Croker Island is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in the

Arafura Sea The Arafura Sea (or Arafuru Sea) lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (also called Papua), which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea. Geography The Arafura Sea is ...

off the coast of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, Australia, northeast of Darwin. It was the site of the Croker Island Mission between 1940 and 1968.

Indigenous peoples

At the earliest time of European contact, the Indigenous people of Croker Island were the Jaako, an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

people who spoke Marrgu, a

language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...

. The modern Indigenous communities speak Iwaidja (the approximately 150 speakers being the last remaining speakers of the language) and Maung, Kunwinjku and English.

Post-contact history

1940–1968: Croker Island Mission

Between 1940 and 1968, the

Methodist Overseas Mission The Methodist Church of Australasia was a Methodist denomination based in Australia. It existed from 1902 to 1977, when the Uniting Church in Australia was formed. It did missionary work in Australia through two organisations: the Methodist Overse ...

operated the Croker Island Mission at Minjilang. Many Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families by the church, part of what is now termed the

Stolen Generation The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...

. The mission ran a school, and employed several of the male residents who had finished school. The Pacific theatre of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

saw the Japanese military aerial bombing Darwin in February 1942. Non-Indigenous children from the island were evacuated. To avoid the bombing, missionary Margaret Somerville led 95 Indigenous children from the island's orphanage, part of the Croker Island Mission, on a journey that saw the party arrive on the Australian mainland. Travelling a distance overland, they boarded a train through central Australia, arriving in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, on the east coast. Over 44 days, the group covered . The children returned to Croker Island in 1946. This expedition was described by Somerville in her book ''They crossed a continent'', and later explored in the ABC documentary ''Croker Island Exodus'' (2012), directed and co-written by Steven McGregor and co-written by Danielle MacLean. Locals were cast to play all of the roles. A

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

was undertaken by 12 claimants against the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

for sexual and physical abuse which took place at the mission from the 1940s until the late 1960s. They finally received compensation in May 2023, through a private settlement.

2001: Croker Island native title claim

The traditional custodians of Croker Island filed a claim over the sea surrounding Croker Island in 2001. The case, '' Yarmirr v Northern Territory'' (named after the lead claimant, Mary Yarmirr), was settled in the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

on 11 October 2001. The clans represented were the Mandilarri-Ildugij, Mangalara, Murran, Gadura-Minaga and Ngaynjaharr clans. The case established that the traditional owners do have native title of the sea and sea-bed; however,

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

rights of fishing and navigation mean that only non-exclusive native title can exist over the sea.

2005: Cyclone Ingrid

Croker Island was severely damaged by Cyclone Ingrid in March 2005.

Geography

Croker Island, which lies about northeast of Darwin, is separated from

Cobourg Peninsula The Cobourg Peninsula is a peninsula located east of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is deeply indented with coves and bays, covers a land area of about , and is virtually uninhabited with a population ranging from about 20 ...

in the west by Bowen Strait, which is wide in the south and up to in the north, and long. In the north and east is the

, and in the south and southeast Mountnorris Bay. Croker Island measures from Point David (south, local name ''Inngirnatj'') to Cape Croker (north), up to wide, and has an area of . At its highest point it is only above sea level. Croker Island is the largest island, and the only permanently inhabited island, in the Croker Group.

Settlements

The only notable settlement on Croker Island is the Aboriginal community of Minjilang, located on Mission Bay on the east coast. Apart from that, there are nine small family outstations, the largest one of which is Inngirnatj (Point David) at the southern end of the island. The settlements from north to south: #Alamirra (close to Somerville Bay 1.5 km further the north) #Timor Springs (north of Minjilang, 8 km by road) #Wanakutja (on Palm Bay in the north-west) # Minjilang (Mission Bay), the only village and main settlement of the island #Adjamarrago (800 metres north of Croker Island Aerodrome, west of Minjilang) #Keith William's Outstation (Arrgamumu, Arrgamurrmur) (south-east of Mission Bay) #Walka (Barge Landing) (south side of Mission Bay, with barge pier) #Sandy Bay (close to Sandy Bay on the east coast, but two kilometres to the coast) #Marramarrani (southwest coast) #Inngirnatj (Point David) (southern end, west side, with boat pier)

Environment

The island's beaches, bushland,

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s and

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s are host to plentiful wildlife and flora. A cull of feral horses was undertaken in 2015.

References

{{reflist Arafura Sea Islands of the Northern Territory Arnhem Land tropical savanna