Groote Eylandt
Groote Eylandt ( obsolete Dutch spelling for the Big Island ) is the third largest island in Australia and the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north coast of Australia.
On Groote Eylandt manganese ore one of the largest of the Earth is broken.
The island off the northern coast of Australia is inhabited and managed by the Aborigines of Anindilyakwa. On the archipelago, four Aboriginal settlements are: Angurugu, Umbakumba and Groote Eylandt Alyangula on and Milyakburra on Bickerton Iceland. Groote Eylandt Bickerton Iceland belongs together with the Local Government Area in the East Arnhem Shire in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
Location and size
Groote Eylandt lies approximately 600 kilometers south of Darwin. The shortest distance to the Australian mainland is 42.9 kilometers. The island is 68.8 kilometers from east to west and 73.2 kilometers from north to south with an area of about 2260 km ².
In addition to the larger island Bickerton Iceland and Iceland Winchelsea to Groote Island group includes approximately 40 smaller islands, including Connexion Iceland, Iceland Hawk, Arruwa Iceland, Iceland Hawknest, North Point Iceland and Iceland Burney.
History
Aboriginal
The Anindilyakwa lived long before the European colonization on Groote Eylandt. The island not only has great cultural and spiritual significance for them, but also for Aborigines on the mainland about 50 miles away.
They are traditional hunters and gatherers. In this dreamtime huge lizards, snakes and reptiles are living in water holes. The highest point of the island, the Central Hill, who is called by the Aborigines Yandarrnga 219 meters high, in their ideas has a special meaning because he emigrated from the mainland there and brought different plants and animals.
The culture of Anindilyakwa has been influenced by the Makassar fishermen in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the 1948 American - Australian Scientific, held Expedition to Arnhem Land in 2400 rock art motifs were documented at the three key localities on the islands Chasm Iceland, Angoroko and Junduruna. The extensive documentation made it possible to reconstruct the temporal change of the motifs. This method was new and direction for the entire field more research on Aboriginal art.
European History
A first European settlement was established at the river Emerald in 1921 as the Church Missionary Society built the Emerald River Mission. It was an Aboriginal mission station, 13 kilometers south of Angurugu, who moved after the Second World War by Angurugu. 1938 Umbakumba was a base for flying boats of Qantas and for the sea cucumber fishery.
1943 built the Royal Australian Air Force a runway for military aircraft at Angurugu that were used in the Pacific War.
Groote Eylandt in 1948 was one of the three bins of the 17 -strong American - Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land Arnhem Land, the 14 weeks examined the life and culture of the Aborigines on the island and documented.
With the entry into force of the Aboriginal Land Rights ( Northern Territory ) Act 1976 in December 1977 Aborigines were granted land rights. 2006 saw the declaration of islands to Anindilyakwa Indigenous Protected Area, which extends over an area of 2312 km ².
Landscape
The landscape of Groote Eylandt consists of extensive lateritic plains, rocky plateaus and hills in the central and southern areas and large dune fields and sand plains in the coastal regions. An extensive impact on nature Groote Eylandt on, the degradation of one of the largest manganese - ore deposits of the earth dar. at Angurugu by GEMCO ( Groote. Eylandt Mining Company Pty Ltd )
Flora and Fauna
On the island group were counted 900 plants and 330 species of vertebrates.
Five animal and 42 plant species are endemic. The endemic blind snake Rhamphotyphlops minimus is also on Groote Iceland. Seven feral animal species occur. Animals on the island are, for example, the Northern Hüpfmaus, the short-eared rock wallaby or Spiny.
On the islands, nesting sea turtles, four species: the Green Turtle, Olive Ridley Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle and flatback turtle.
On the island there are 9,800 acres of dry rainforest. Tree savannas from Darwin Stringybark and Woollybutt extend over large parts of the island.
Economy
Located near the Aboriginal settlement Angurugu located with GEMCO, a joint venture between Anglo American ( 40 percent) and BHP Billiton (60 per cent), a mining of manganese ore, which dominates the island's economy. This is according to the information of this company in the year 2011 by the largest and most cost-effective reduction of this ore on Earth. GEMCO also announced that it will invest AUD 254 million to increase the ore production from 4.2 to 4.8 million tonnes to allow according to the improvement of road transport and the Hafenverladekapazität an annual reduction of 5.9 million tonnes.
It is also the airport on the island, which are served by the airlines Airnorth, Alliance Airlines and Aviation Vincent.
Economic activities also be created for a developing tourism, so there recently the Dugong Beach Resort, several clinics and a cultural center that Aindilyakwa Arts and Cultural Centre.
Famous people
- David Warren (1925-2010), the inventor of the flight data recorder was born on Groote Eylandt.