Another Overnighter - Malay Bay, Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory, Australia

Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Thu 22 Jul 2010 12:24
11:21.680S  132:52.785E
 
After recuperating for two days and nights anchored off flat, deserted Marchinbar Island, we decided it was time to move on.  The Marchinbar Island anchorage was ok, but like most flat, deserted islands, there wasn't much to look at and the threat of crocs kept us from swimming.  All of the Wessel Islands (of which Marchinbar is one) and most of the Northern Territory land in this area is owned by the Aboriginal people, therefore, special permission is needed to go ashore.
 
Crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria bought us to the Northern Territory, which does not have the same status in Australia as a state like Queensland, but does have its own form of Australian territory government, which is headquartered in Darwin.  The population of the Northern Territory is very small at about 200,000, but the swath of land it covers is huge.  Aside from the coastal areas, much of it is desert outback and very remote.  The Aboriginal people own about half of the Northern Territory land including that which two of Australia's largest national parks reside upon.  In these cases, the Aboriginal people lease the land back to the Australian government for park use.  Like northern Queensland, the mining industry is big here.  Australia has the largest deposit of uranium in the world, and the same is true for a variety of other minerals and precious metals.  There is a uranium mine just southeast of Darwin located on Aboriginal land, but generally the landowners' (Aborigines) permission is needed before any exploration or mining activities are allowed.
 
Speaking of Aborigines, we've seen some, but not many.  We saw none in the southeastern states of Victoria and New South Wales and none in the southern part of Queensland.  As we traveled north we started to see a few, but generally it was the downtrodden, homeless Aboriginal people we saw, and most often we saw them outside the doorways of liquor stores.  Aboriginal people have a very low tolerance for alcohol coupled with a very high rate of alcohol addiction.  A deadly duo and one that has ruined many an Aboriginal community.  Of course it didn't help that in the 1800's, the Aboriginal people were introduced to alcohol and other aspects of western European culture, while at the same time their land was taken from them and their communities pushed into government reserves or Christian missions.  A sad history not unlike that of our own Native Americans.  In the 1960's and '70's the plight of the Aboriginal people improved somewhat as government policies changed for the better and some of their land was returned.  Today, many of the Aboriginal people living in the Northern Territory countryside live a semi-traditional lifestyle - hunting, fishing, and gathering food like their ancestors did 50,000 years before them.  These are the Aboriginal people we don't see because they tend to keep to themselves and don't mix much with city dwellers or tourists.
 
So - back to sailing.  Bright and early on the morning of June 24th, we pushed off from the Wessel Islands and sailed straight for the Cobourg Peninsula, skipping the coast of Aborigine owned Arnhem Land that lies between. 
 
32 hours, 230 miles.  Perfect wind, kinder seas.
 
At this point, nearly a month later, I don't remember much about this particular passage.  Memory lapse can only mean one thing: nothing exciting or out of the ordinary happened - not necessarily a bad thing when sailing.
 
More on the final stretch to Darwin later.
Anne