Nhulunbuy

Nhulunbuy is a township that was created on the Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory of Australia when a bauxite mine and deep water port were established nearby in the late 1960s, followed by an alumina refinery. At the 2011 census, Nhulunbuy had a population of 3,933 with a median age of 32. The closure of the alumina refinery in May 2014 resulted in 1,100 workers being redeployed or made redundant, substantially reducing this population.HistoryThis area in Northeast Arnhem Land has been home to the Yolngu Aboriginal people for at least 40,000 years.Matthew Flinders, in his circumnavigation of Australia in 1803, met the Macassan trading fleet near present-day Nhulunbuy, an encounter that led to the establishment of settlements on Melville Island and the Coburg Peninsula. A beach close to the township is named Macassan Beach in honour of this encounter.In 1963, a Federal government decision excised part of the land for a bauxite mine to be operated by the North Australian Bauxite and Alumina Company (Nabalco). The Yolngu aborigines at Yirrkala were strongly opposed, and forwarded a bark petition to the Australian House of Representatives, which attracted national and international attention and which now hangs in Parliament House, Canberra.