Yolngu

Yolŋu country encompasses the coastal and inland lands of northeastern Arnhem Land, including islands and waters of the Arafura Sea. Clans hold connections to estates, languages and ancestral traditions across this landscape. From at least the eighteenth century, Makassan crews came seasonally from Sulawesi to collect trepang and exchange goods with Yolŋu communities. Some Yolŋu travelled with the visitors across the sea, extending these relationships beyond the Australian coast.