This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2019) |
Native name: (Tiwi) Yermalner | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Location | Timor Sea |
Coordinates | 11°33′S130°56′E / 11.550°S 130.933°E |
Archipelago | Tiwi Islands |
Major islands | Melville, Irrititu |
Area | 5,786 km2 (2,234 sq mi) |
Administration | |
Australia | |
Territory | Northern Territory |
Largest settlement | Milikapiti (pop. 559) |
Demographics | |
Population | c. 1030 |
Ethnic groups | Tiwi |
Melville Island (Tiwi : Yermalner) is an island in the eastern Timor Sea, off the coast of the Northern Territory, Australia. Along with Bathurst Island and nine smaller uninhabited islands, it forms part of the group known as the Tiwi Islands, which are under the jurisdiction of the Northern Territory in association with the Tiwi Land Council as the regional authority.
Indigenous people have occupied the area that became the Tiwi Islands for at least 40,000 years. [1] It is said that the first European to sight the island was Abel Tasman in 1644.
Explorer Phillip Parker King (son of governor of New South Wales Philip Gidley King) named it for Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, first Lord of the Admiralty, who is also commemorated by the much larger Melville Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Shortly after this, the British made the first attempt to settle Australia's north coast, at the short-lived Fort Dundas on Melville Island. The settlement lasted from 1824 to 1828.[ citation needed ]
There was a Catholic mission on the island, on which Nova Peris' mother was raised after being taken from her mother. [2]
During World War II the small Snake Bay Patrol manned by local Tiwi people was established as part of the military forces deployed to protect the island against any Japanese landings.[ citation needed ]
The island lies in the eastern Timor Sea, approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Darwin and west of the Cobourg Peninsula in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory. At 5,786 square kilometres (2,234 sq mi), it is just outside the 100 largest islands in the world, but is the second biggest island of Australia, after Tasmania. Irrititu Island, 1.60 square kilometres (0.62 sq mi), lies 55 metres (180 ft) south of Melville Island's southern tip. [3] The islands have a tropical climate.
The largest settlement on the island is Milikapiti, with a population of 559. The second largest is Pirlangimpi (Pularumpi, formerly Garden Point), with a population of 440, located 27 km (17 mi) west of Milikapiti, on the west coast of Melville Island. About 30 more people live in five family outstations.
As part of the Tiwi Islands, Melville is under the jurisdiction of the Northern Territory, with the Tiwi Land Council as the regional authority.
The Northern Territory is a federal Australian territory in north-central Australia. It is the third largest Australian federal division with an area of 1,348,094.3 square kilometres (520,502 sq mi) but the least populous with 245,929 inhabitants as at June 2019. The Northern Territory is divided administratively into 17 Local government areas (LGAs) generally known as Councils who are responsible for providing local government services.
The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a rather vaguely defined area of about 245,000 square kilometres (95,000 sq mi) behind the northern coast from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin across to Arnhem Land with the Indian Ocean on the west, the Arafura Sea to the north, and the Gulf of Carpentaria to the east, and with the almost waterless semi-arid interior of Australia to the south, beyond the huge Kakadu National Park.
Bathurst Island is one of the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory off the northern coast of Australia along with Melville Island.
The Cobourg Peninsula is located 350 kilometres (217 mi) east of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is deeply indented with coves and bays, covers a land area of about 2,100 square kilometres (811 sq mi), and is virtually uninhabited with a population ranging from about 20 to 30 in five family outstations, but without any notable settlement or village. It is separated from Croker Island in the east by Bowen Strait, which is 2.5 kilometres wide in the south and up to 7 kilometres in the north, and 8.5 kilometres long. In the west, it is separated from Melville Island by Dundas Strait. From Cape Don, the western point of the peninsula, to Soldier Point in the east of Melville Island, the distance is 28 kilometres (17 mi). In the north is the Arafura Sea, and in the south the Van Diemen Gulf. The highest elevation is Mount Roe in the south with an altitude of 160 metres (525 ft).
The Tiwi Islands are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, 80 km (50 mi) to the north of Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, with a combined area of 8,320 square kilometres (3,212 sq mi).
The Central Land Council (CLC) is a land council that represents the Aboriginal peoples of the southern half of the Northern Territory of Australia (NT), predominantly with regard to land issues. it is one of four land councils in the Northern Territory, and covers the Central Australia region. The head office is located in Alice Springs.
Tiwi is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Tiwi people on the Tiwi Islands, within sight of the coast of northern Australia. It is one of about 10% of Australian languages still being frequently learned by children.
Severe Tropical Cyclone Thelma was a tropical cyclone that affected northern Australia from 6 December 1998 until 12 December 1998. Cyclone Thelma was one of the most intense tropical cyclones to be observed off the coast of Australia. Thelma formed in the Arafura Sea north of the Northern Territory while intensifying rapidly into a Category 5 cyclone, passing very near the Tiwi Islands and posing a severe threat to Darwin, but passed by at a distance of 200 km (120 mi). It then moved across the Timor Sea before hitting the north Kimberley coast. Thelma was the first known Category 5 cyclone to be observed in the Timor Sea, and was also the most intense cyclone to threaten Darwin since Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve in 1974. Ten months after the storm's passage, the skull of an 81-year-old man, who was believed to have been swept away by flood waters, was discovered.
Fort Dundas was a short-lived British settlement on Melville Island between 1824 and 1828 in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia. It was the first of four British settlement attempts in northern Australia before Goyder's survey and establishment of Palmerston, now known as Darwin. The three later attempts were at Fort Wellington, Port Essington and Escape Cliffs.
Milikapiti is a village on the northern coast of Melville Island, Northern Territory, Australia. At the 2011 census, Milikapiti had a population of 447.
The Tiwi Islands Region is a local government area (LGA) of the Northern Territory, Australia. The LGA covers an area of 7,483 square kilometres (2,889 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 2,753 in June 2018, and is governed by the Tiwi Islands Regional Council, formerly Tiwi Islands Shire Council.
The Tiwi people are one of the many Aboriginal groups of Australia. Nearly 2,000 Tiwi people live on Bathurst and Melville Islands, which make up the Tiwi Islands, lying about 48 kilometres from Darwin. The Tiwi language is a language isolate, with no apparent link to the languages of Arnhem Land on the Australian mainland. Their society is based on matrilineal descent, and marriage plays a very important part in many aspects of their lives. Art and music form an intrinsic part of their societal and spiritual rituals as the Tiwi people tend to follow a certain form of indigenous Animist belief system. The Stolen Generations saw many Indigenous people brought to the Tiwi Islands who were not of direct Tiwi descent.
Aboriginal land councils in the Northern Territory are representative bodies known as land councils, covering four areas of Aboriginal self-governance in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The Tiwi Land Council is a land council in the Northern Territory of Australia established in 1978 to represent Aboriginal Australians living on the Tiwi Islands. It is one of four land councils in the Northern Territory.
Fly Tiwi is an Australian airline based in Darwin, Northern Territory, offering scheduled passenger services between the Northern Territory capital and communities located on the Tiwi, South Goulburn and Croker islands, as well as a number of remote Arnhem Land communities. The company is wholly owned by the Hardy Aviation group, Australia's largest general aviation company, and was founded in 2008 in association with the Tiwi Land Council and, As of 2012 operates over 60 flights per week between 10 destinations.
Pirlangimpi, formerly Garden Point, is a populated place on Melville Island in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Kitty Kantilla also known as Kutuwalumi Purawarrumpatu was a renowned aboriginal artist from the Tiwi Islands of the Northern Territory of Australia. She worked in a variety of media, including carved ironwood sculptures, tunga, painting on paper, canvas and prints. Her work is held in collections around Australia.
Vernon Islands is a locality in the Northern Territory of Australia located over land and water in the Clarence Strait including the Vernon Islands and which is located about 55 kilometres (34 mi) north-east of the territory capital of Darwin.
Vernon Islands, also known as the Potinga Islands, is an island group in the Northern Territory of Australia located in the Clarence Strait about 55 kilometres (34 mi) north-east of the territory capital of Darwin. The group consists of three islands which were first sighted by Europeans in 1818 on a British navy ship under the command of Phillip Parker King. The group were part of the subject of a successful aboriginal land claim which was resolved after 40 years in 2018 when the Tiwi people received title. All three islands host navigation aids which assist vessels passing through the Clarence Strait. It and some adjoining seabed have had protected area status since 1974 and which has been known as the Vernon Islands Conservation Reserve since 1979. Since 2007, the island group has been located in the locality of Vernon Islands.