NORTH EAST ARNHEM LAND

 

OVERVIEW

North East Arnhem Land is located on Yolngu country and is a region rich in culture, art and history. Located around 500 kilometres from Darwin in the Northern Territory, it is one of Australia’s most remote regions.

Jawun commenced operations in North East Arnhem Land (NEAL) in 2012.

Nhulunbuy is the main township in North East Arnhem Land and is largely sustained by the mining industry, which began operations in the 1960s despite protests from Yolngu Elders to Federal Parliament through the Bark Petitions – a major catalyst for the Land Rights movement. The mine is currently scheduled to close by 2030. The Laynhapuy homelands (traditional clan lands) extend out from Nhulunbuy into Arnhem Land and consist of around 30 remote homeland communities.

Yolngu people have always maintained a strong desire for greater control of their destiny and the capacity to shape their future. A future in which they are able to confidently walk in two worlds, the Yolngu and Balanda (non-Indigenous). Under the guidance and strong leadership of different clan leaders, Yolngu people of North East Arnhem Land have made incredible progress towards long-term sustainable business, employment, culturally appropriate services, and education opportunities. There is a shared vision for Indigenous development with a focus on sustainable, meaningful employment created for local Yolŋgu people through community-led economic enterprise.

WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY

FIELD TEAM

  • General Manager, Regional Investment

    Sarah joined Jawun as Regional Director for the Lower River Murray, Lakes and Coorong, and Far West Coast Regions in South Australia in May 2019 before moving into General Manager Regional Investment role in November 2022. 

    Sarah comes to Jawun from a career in project management across the community based and higher education sectors, delivering diverse projects to support the housing, health and wellbeing needs of people sleeping rough in Adelaide. This included service delivery model review, establishment of a social enterprise to provide training and employment opportunities, and coordination of a peer-to-peer disaster resilience project, delivering safety messaging and assistance during extreme weather events to people sleeping rough. Sarah played a key role in a sector-wide collaboration to address, and end, rough sleeping in Adelaide through the delivery of SA’s first two annual Connections Week projects to better understand and support people sleeping rough. 

    Personally, Sarah is committed to supporting young people to make positive choices in their lives. Sarah mentors high school students through The Smith Family’s Learning for Life program and is guardianship carer for a young person through Time for Kids.

CASE STUDIES

Case studies show how Jawun secondees have achieved real results. If you are interested to learn more about Jawun's work in this region, click on the case studies below.

STRENGTHENING SMALL BUSINESS FRAMEWORKS

CBA - UNDERSTANDING INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES

TOWN VISION AND A COMMUNITY IN TRANSITION

SUPPORTING YOLNGU MANAGERS TO DRIVE CHANGE

SUPPORTING GUMATJ CORPORATION

LIRRWI YOLNGU TOURISM ABORIGINAL CORPORATION

GUMATJ CORPORATION

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