Wurrwurrwuy is the Yolngu name of the area near Garanhan where there is a unique cluster of stone arrangements behind the rock-shelf.

The area covered by these ‘stone pictures’ is approximately 70 metres by 80 metres. The outline pictures provide a window into the trade between the Yolngu of north east Arnhem Land and Indonesians that had existed for several centuries until 1907 when South Australia, which administered the Northern Territory at the time, began using aggressive measures to collect customs duty. The Indonesians, mostly from Macassar in Sulawesi, came annually for trepang (dharripa or sea cucumber), turtle shell, and pearl shell to sell to Chinese traders.

They sailed in their tri-masted praus on the northwest monsoon winds, and returned on the southeast trade winds. The Macassans acknowledged the Yolngu as owners of the land and the marine resources, and relations between Yolngu and Macassans were generally business-like and often cordial. Matthew Flinders, on his circumnavigation of Australia, encountered a fleet of Macassans near Cape Wilburforce in 1803 and spoke with Pobasso, the captain. Pobasso told him that two or three Yolngu sailed each year with the fleet to Macassar and that some had remained there.

The stone pictures were probably constructed by Yolngu elders toward the end of the nineteenth century, and in the 1960s clan leaders Mungurrawuy Yunupingu and Mawalan Marika told Campbell Macknight that the arrangements had been made by older members of their families so that future generations of Yolngu would know the history of the Macassan visits. Mungurrawuy’s father had actually been to Macassar. The photographs indicate that as of 1967 Yolngu kept the site clear of woody weeds and the stones free of obstruction.

The arrangements can conveniently be viewed in four clusters (I – IV) and interpretive signage will guide you in an anti-clockwise direction around the walking path.

Macknight, C. C. and W. J. Gray, Aboriginal Stone Pictures in Eastern Arnhem Land.

Canberra: Australia Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1970.

This walking track constructed by Dhimurru runs parallel to the coastline and offers visitors the opportunity to cover land and sea belonging to several clans.

Elders have also provided interpretative material to assist visitors in understanding the rich Yolngu environment, and the variety of resources available.

The trail begins by ascending from the fine white sand beach into a hilly area with scattered rocks called dhumurr. This is eucalypt open woodland and among the understorey plants are Dhalpi (Livistonia enermis, five fingered sand palm) and many other trees, bushes, and vines that Yolngu use for food, medicine and the manufacture of domestic containers and ritual objects. The trail crosses a private road leading to a local residence. To the right is an area named Bandalal, a retja (monsoon vine thicket or jungle). The track then meets the road leading to Garanhan and passes a fenced area containing the Macassan stone pictures. The trail continues on to the beach area at Garanhan.

The trail leads inland from the beach in a northerly direction, initially up a steep dune. On both sides of the trail there are patches of large trees including Larrani (Syzygium suborbiculare, red bush apple), Ganyawu (Semecarpus australiensis, native cashew) and Gunga (Pandanus spiralis, pandanus). The trail follows the edge of a paperbark swamp. This is a lagoon during the wet season and food plants such as Wakwak (Nymphaea macrosperma, water lillies) and Råkay (Eleocharis dulcis, water chestnuts) are collected. Inland from the coastal dune and north of the paperbark swamp are areas of monsoonal rainforest that are rich in another popular food plant, Ganguri, or yam. The trail leaves the forest and follows the edge of the bauxite headland, with views south-east to Daliwuy, and north to Barinjura. Following the coast the trail then descends the rock face through a patch of rainforest to the camping area near the beach.

The trail ascends from the beach through an area of dense monsoon vine thicket with abundant birdlife. The trail then leads into a sparse open forest and onto a laterite shelf with views eastwards to the Gulf of Carpenteria. Isolated sandstone boulders and grey termite mounds are scattered across the shelf. The strong south-east trade winds that blow across the Gulf during dry season contribute to the pattern of vegetation in these exposed areas. Lateritic outcrops and sandy or shelly beach ridges support small intermittent patches of coastal vine forest. The vegetation along the narrow foreshore is subject to salt-laden abrasive winds and strong wave action, which creates mobile sand dunes and a fragile plant environment. The trail continues on through a stand of Mawurraki (Casuarina equisetifolia, casaurina), and then descends to a relatively sheltered white sand beach at Barinura.