Tiwi Islands - the Tip of the Northern Territory

It is rare that so close to a major city can lie somewhere so different from the urban sprawl. The Tiwi Islands are 80km north of the capital of the Northern Territory, Darwin. Edged with clear blue water, they experience the same seasons as the rest of Australia's tropical Top End. Having withstood a changing Australia, from colonization to the second world war to today's dynamic environment, they provide visitors with another glimpse of the landscape that makes the Territory so unique.

Steeped in history, they are an approximately two hour ferry ride from Darwin or a fifteen-minute flight. The two main islands of the Tiwi Islands are Bathurst Island and Melville Island. There are nine smaller islands that surround them. Bathurst Island is 2600 square kilometres, and Melville Island follows at 5786 square kilometres. Melville Island is the second-largest island in Australia after the state of Tasmania. Most of the residents of the Tiwi Islands have Aboriginal Heritage.

The people of the Tiwi Islands have seen many eras pass over their homeland. Adjacent to the Timor Sea, the traditional custodians have lived there for thousands of years. Most residents speak Tiwi as their first language and English as their second.

Bathurst Island, Tiwi Islands

In 1910, Bathurst Island became the home of a large Roman Catholic mission to the Tiwi. The church still stands there today. The islanders still practice traditional customs, such as creating burial poles for the dead. The influences of the Catholic mission are still present, both in the buildings and the culture of the people. There is a copy of the Bible translated into Tiwi.

In 1942, the Tiwi Islands became the site of the first Japanese bombing of Australia. On February 20, 1942, Japanese pilot Sergeant Hajime Toyoshima was returning from a raid on Darwin, which had killed 236 people when he crashed on Melville Island. He was taken prisoner by the Tiwi man Matthias Ulungura who was leading a group of hunters. They captured the pilot and handed the twenty-one-year-old over to the Australian sergeant on Bathurst Island. For the next two years, the northern coast of Australia was bombed relentlessly. Relaying information back to Darwin, the Tiwi Islands became part of Australia's defense against the Japanese onslaught.

Today, the people of Tiwi retain great pride in their culture. Living in such close proximity to Darwin makes their land accessible. It is a gift to visit these islands and discover such a pivotal part of the Northern Territory.