View of Gunbalanya from Injalak Hill
Thousands of tourists flock to Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory every year, and for good reason. The national park is home to some of our most memorable spiritual locations and Indigenous experiences.
There is so much to see and do that it’s sometimes easy to overlook Kakadu’s equally unforgettable neighbour only a few kilometres away: Gunbalanya.
Gunbalanya — formally Oenpelli — is home to an Aboriginal community with a unique art centre and one of the best cultural experiences and tours anywhere.
In the dry season (May to September, the best time of year to visit this part of Australia), the road to Gunbalanya takes you over the famous tourist experience at Cahills Crossing, where barra anglers play chicken with giant saltwater crocodiles. The crossing is impassible in the wet season (October to April). At other times it’s tidal, even though it’s 20km from the ocean. So, it’s important to check the water level and organise an online visitor permit before heading to the Gunbalanya community. If you have time, book a boat trip along the East Alligator River with Guluyambi Cultural Cruise for close-up and safe encounters with crocodiles. The boat ride is also a twitcher’s dream, with rich and colourful birdlife.
Your permit into the community allows access along the main road, which is well-formed and signposted and follows through spectacular West Arnhem Land rocky outcrops. This is the Stone Country of the local Kunwinjku people. Gunbalanya has a population of around 1200, making it a significant centre of West Arnhem Land.
The road into Gunbalanya leads through beautiful stone country
Paddy Cahill set up a dairy in 1906 in an area he called Oenpelli, his anglicised version of an Indigenous place name. In 1925, the Church Mission Society took over the farm and managed the community, which sprang up until the 1970s when control returned to the community. The name changed to Gunbalanya in 2001, but for some, the Oenpelli name lingers, and Paddy’s name is immortalised at the river crossing.
Gunbalanya art scene
An art tradition from Arnhem Land coursed through Aboriginal culture for millennia before the missionaries arrived, and nearby rock shelters boast thousands of unique paintings. Anthropologists collected artifacts in the 1920s. In the 1960s, missionaries encouraged artists to paint on bark for sale through outlets in the south, and today, the Injalak Arts Centre supports over 200 painters, weavers and wood carvers from the Kunwinjku language group.
The Injalak Art Centre is community-owned non-profit, and we saw a passionate drive for sharing and teaching. They welcome visitors, and we found half a dozen artists working on paintings, weaving and printmaking. The gallery was alive with colour and traditional designs of an ancient art based on imagery from the region’s ancient rock art. Screen printing here dates back to 1989, making the centre Australia’s original Indigenous screen-printing workshop, and a selection of silk and cotton printed fabrics is available.
Injalak Art Centre
Many bark and canvas paintings feature the X-ray style, with some works depicting the fragile Mimih figures. These original spirit beings emerged from rock fissures at the beginning of time to teach Aboriginal people survival skills and ceremonies. The gallery display is varied and spacious, and the staff welcome questions about the techniques and traditions of the artworks. The centre’s website invites visitors “to browse our beautiful shop full of intricate, authentic handmade arts and crafts — we are proud of our work and proud to share it with you.”
Head up Injalak Hill
The art centre alone makes Gunbalanya worth a visit, but there’s more. Two kilometres away, Injalak Hill, a 200m-high sandstone outlier from which the centre takes its name, forms a majestic backdrop.
View of Injalak Hill from Gunbalanya
Caves and walls across the hill are home to one of the most concentrated and valuable collections of rock art galleries in Western Arnhem Land.
We hooked up with Joey Nganjmirra, our Injalak Hill Rock Art Tour guide and drove to the foot of Injalak. It’s 200m to the top, with some scrambling over boulders and a few steep sections, but we took time to marvel at the spectacular paintings and ask questions over the three hours of our tour. The paintings on Injalak Hill have been identified as being up to 8000 years old, but there is a tradition of painting right through to recent times.
Guide Joey Nganjmirra points out the detail in the artwork
Artist Joe Guymala at work
We were told which galleries we could photograph, and there was ample variety across a dozen different sites as we climbed higher. Some galleries are up to 10m long, with animals and ceremonies depicted in various hues of ochre. You can enjoy spectacular views from the top and a welcome breather across Gunbalanya and the wetlands of the Arnhem landscape.
What to know before you go
You need a visitor’s permit to enjoy the Injalak experience and check with the community to see if they are open before you travel. Gunbalanya is about 60km from Jabiru along the dirt access road, usually suitable for 2WD vehicles. Jabiru has caravan parks and spots in the national park at Merl Campground close to Cahills Crossing.
Entry to Injalak Art Centre is free. Cultural tours are $400 for a group of up to 10 and there is a $40 per person licence entry fee, so get some fellow travellers together or choose a more intimate couple’s encounter. Tours are limited to 30 participants per day, so book ahead. You will find all the information you need here, including tide times for the river, road conditions, opening hours and your permit application.
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