We Believe in It...We Know It’s True

Streaming video - 1986

When built in the 1960s, the mining town of Nhulunbuy had an instant population of about 4000, making it one of the largest towns in the Northern Territory. With the town came a hotel—and alcohol. The face of the Gove Peninsula—with its forests, swamps, rich coastline and sacred sites—was transformed overnight. So too were the lives of the Yolngu.. In 1969-1971 the Yolngu tried, unsuccessfully, to stop this invasion and exploitation of their land through the Northern Territory Supreme Court. In 1974 the Church handed control of Yirrkala to the Yolngu and in 1976 the Aboriginal Land Rights Act gave title of the Arnhem Land Reserve to its traditional clan owners. For the Yolngu of Yirrkala this came 10 years too late.. This film is a st...udy of the cultural continuity at Yirrkala in 1982, 40 years after the mission started and 12 years after the Gove bauxite mine was established. more