Another Overnighter - Malay Bay, Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory, Australia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Thu 22 Jul 2010 12:24
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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
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