Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, 18 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land.
A bark painting collected at Yirrkala
A woodcarving of Nureri the fire ancestor collected at Yirrkala
A woodcarving of female spirit collected at Yirrkala
One of the Wurrwurrwuy stone arrangements
The Gove Peninsula is at the northeastern corner of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The peninsula became strategically important during World War II when a Royal Australian Air Force base was constructed at what is now Gove Airport. The peninsula was involved in a famous court case known as the Gove land rights case, when local Yolngu people tried to claim native title over their traditional lands in 1971, after the Australian Government had granted a mineral lease to a bauxite mining company without consulting the local peoples. Today the land is owned by the Yolngu people.
Nanydjaka (Cape Arnhem Coast)
The old airport terminal at Gove Airport.
Sign commemorating Gove Airport's World War II service.