On the Stuart Highway
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Geographical Location
Further north up the Stuart Highway is the town of Batchelor just
outside the entrance to the Litchfield National Park. The Park’s
traditional owners are the Wagait Aboriginal people who still live
there and practice art. The area is also important to the Koongurrukun,
Marranunggu, Werat and Waray Aboriginal people whose Ancestral Spirits
formed the landscape, plants and animals and are still present in the
landscape today.
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Although not a ‘region’ in its own right, represents several different
Aboriginal language groups from Elliot in the south to Batchelor in the
north near Darwin, each with their own culture and history.
The area around Elliott is the traditional home of the Jingili desert
people, the neighbours of the Yangman, Alawa, Ngandji, Wambaya,
Warumungu, Warlmanpa and Mudburra peoples. The Jingili and Mudburra
peoples have been living closely together, they now regard themselves
as one group for ceremonial puposes.
Their languages are still different but the close contact has meant
that the occasional word is borrowed or swapped. The region quickly
became a crossroads for three famous stockroutes, where drovers would
drive cattle and sheep to the markets. Elliott now lies in the heart of
the Northern Territories 'cattle country'.
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Batchelor about 100 km south of Darwin is the entry point for visitors to the Litchfield National Park.