A Chronicle of the Timber Industry in East Arnhem Land, Australia

Abstract

The north eastern part of the Northern Territory (NT) is East Arnhem Land. This expanse of Australia is the homeland of the Indigenous Yolngu clans whose forbears occupied the land some 50,000 years ago. These people survived in a nomadic lifestyle of hunter gatherers on their traditional land (Altman, 2002; 2003). Historical records show that from the 17th Century Indigenous Yolngu traded with seafarers from China, the Celebes, Japan, the Netherlands and even sailors navigating the great southern land (Berndt & Berndt, 1999; Worsely, 1955). Over 300 years later within the first quarter of the 20th Century, the Methodist Church began to develop the coastal region of East Arnhem Land, and thus, began the congregation of Indigenous communities (Trudgen, 2000). Living in this inhospitable land obliged the non Indigenous settlers to use available material to establish structures and facilities vital to sustain a string of mission stations. A primary resource was cypress pine (callitris intratropica) which was resistant to termites, the indefatigable predators of other timbers, and this was the beginning of merchandising the timber industry in East Arnhem Land.