Traditional Owners and area of operation

The Yolngu are the traditional owners of north east Arnhem Land. Their estates cover the land and sea. Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation (Dhimurru) is a community-based natural and cultural resource management agency established in 1992 by the Yolngu traditional owners of land and sea estates in the Gove Peninsula region of North East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Dhimurru's role is to undertake natural and cultural resource management to ensure the protection and sustainable use of Yolngu land and sea country within and adjacent to the Dhimurru Indigenous Protected Area (IPA). The Dhimurru IPA comprises 1,010 sq kms of land, a 300 km coastline, and includes 90 sq kms of adjacent marine estate. 

Landscape description

The country managed by Dhimurru, in association with traditional owners living on country, falls within the Arnhem Coast bioregion. The Arnhem Coast bioregion is 33,022 sq kms, of which some 98.8 per cent is Aboriginal freehold land held under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (ALRA).

The Arnhem Coast bioregion comprises a coastal strip extending from just east of the Cobourg Peninsula to just north of the mouth of the Rose River in southeastern Arnhem Land. It also includes the many off-shore islands dotted along the coastline. Coastal vegetation includes well developed heathlands, mangroves and saline flats, with some floodplain and wetland areas - the most significant being the extensive paperbark forest and sedgelands of the Arafura Wetlands. Inland from the coast, the dominant vegetation type is eucalypt stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta), with smaller areas of monsoon rainforest and eucalypt woodlands (NRETA 2005). The coastline and islands are also significant marine turtle breeding habitats as well as significant seabird breeding, feeding and roosting habitats.

Wildfire is a less significant issue in this area than some others across the Northern Territory. Indicators of inappropriate fire regimes such as retreating vine forest and extensive stands of dead Cypress pine are generally absent from this region. This is because the Dry season is moderated by the maritime winds and occasional showers. Also, in many areas of north east Arnhem Land, Indigenous fire management has been maintained by Yolngu who continue to live on their clan lands at small decentralised homeland communities as part of the homeland movement. Activities of highest impact on water quality in this region stem from the significant mining activity.

Most of the weed species identified in the area are present around the Nhulunbuy township. As part of the arrangements under the Weeds Management Act 2001 (NT) a sub-regional weeds committee has been established for eastern Arnhem Land (Miwatj Weeds Committee). Its membership includes Dhimurru, The Northern Land Council (NLC), Rio Tinto Alcan Gove, the NT Transport Group, and the Shire Council. It is expected that this committee will provide the appropriate forum for dealing with weeds issues so that the relatively weed-free Aboriginal lands surrounding the township remain so (NLC 2004).

The natural heritage values of the Dhimurru IPA are outstanding. Compared with most areas of Australia, northeast Arnhem Land generally is notable for the intactness of plant and animal communities. Important natural values include:

• high plant diversity;
• intact faunal assemblages including representatives of some species unrecorded from protected areas elsewhere in the NT;
• unique representativeness, with the Arnhem Coast biogeographic region having a high priority for conservation planning;
• the Quaternary dune system, a dominant feature of Manydjarrarrnga-Nanydjaka, is the largest example of this geological feature on the NT mainland; and
• significant feeding habitat and nesting sites for sea birds and for several threatened species of marine turtles are represented in the IPA.