Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery

>Oenpelli

Gunbalanya (formally Oenpelli) is a small Aboriginal township close to the East Alligator River in western Arnhem Land approximately 300 kms east of Darwin. Today the Aboriginal population is predominantly Kunwinjku speakers although in the proceeding centuries and up to the time of first contact with explorers and ethnographers early last century, the area was the home of many different tribal groups including the Gagadju. Nearby is the rugged Arnhem Land Escarpment area of deep plunging gorges, huge boulders and wide overhanging rock platforms.
The extensive black soil plans which extend from the base of the escarpment with their billabongs and swamps formed by the huge river system , provided a natural environment for a wide variety of fish, birds such as emu and water fowl, and game including kangaroos and wallabies, possums, flying foxes, echidnas and goannas.
Aboriginal hunters and foragers therefore found an abundance of food.
During the long tropical wet season when the rivers and swamps were overflowing and it became difficult to travel, Aboriginal families retreated to higher ground and made camps in the numerous sandstone caves and rock shelters. Innumerable ochre paintings have survived to this day and provide us with a magnificent historical record of the continuous occupation of the area by successive generations of Aboriginals.