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A celebratory On Country meeting for Limmen Bight Marine Park Traditional Owners

A celebratory On Country meeting for Limmen Bight Marine Park Traditional Owners

Despite 40-degree heat, Marra Traditional Owners of Limmen Bight Marine Park gathered On Country with the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, the Tourism and Hospitality CEO, and partners to celebrate last year’s achievements.

The severe heat warning for the region didn’t deter Namultja Aboriginal Corporation with the support of partners NT Parks and Wildlife and the Commonwealth’s Parks Australia, in holding their second annual On Country meeting.

This was a special meeting celebrating a year of achievements and progress.  It included several guest speakers and project updates for the Limmen Bight area.

Guests included:

  • the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, Hon Marie-Clare Boothby
  • CEO for the Department of Tourism and Hospitality, Suzana Bishop
  • senior officials from partner organisations such as Parks Australia, Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation and the Northern Land Council.

Namultja Aboriginal Corporation provided updates to Marra Traditional Owners from the nearby communities of Ngukurr, Borroloola, Minyerri and Numbulwar about their progress over the last year, including the commencement of the newly established Marranbala Rangers.

Also, worthy of celebrating, were discussions with NLC progressing the establishment of a Community Living Area (CLA) at Maria Lagoon. Establishment of a CLA with Namultja Aboriginal Corporation granted title will assist the establishment of a ranger station enabling Marra people and to live and work back on country.

During the dry season, Marranbala Rangers, who look after Marra Country in the Limmen Bight region, had been involved in several research projects including:

  • archaeological work with Flinders University
  • mangrove monitoring with Wollongong University
  • seagrass monitoring with James Cook and Charles Darwin Universities.

Research partners provided updates on the success of these programs.

Additional topics included:

  • project updates on an upgraded website for Namultja Aboriginal Corporation
  • the development of a Code of Conduct for visitors visiting Marra Country
  • workshops on Governance and how Marra and NT and Commonwealth Government agencies hope to work together in the future.

Guests from NT Fisheries provided updates on compliance in the region and the status of the mud crab fishery.

Parks Australia representatives spoke about the review of the North Marine Park Network Management plan which includes the Limmen Marine Park.

Representatives from NT Parks and Wildlife spoke about the process for the government’s election commitment to extend the Limmen Bight Marine Park southern boundary to pick up a critical seagrass meadow and dugong habitat.

Namultja’s ability to take the lead in matters relating to Marra Sea County covering 2 contiguous marine parks, and holding meetings such as this, has been supported through a $2.3M federation funding agreement to build marine park management capacity in the NT.

The meeting was a success bringing many Marra Traditional Owners and their partners together on country and allowing opportunities for more informal discussions.

Namultja Aboriginal Corporation also organised a videographer to film highlights of the meeting and interview Marra Traditional Owners on their reflections of the journey to get here. We look forward to seeing the results of the video, empowering Marra and reiterating their motto, Together We Are Stronger.

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Our country and our people

Marra Identity

Marra People, Marranbala, identify as saltwater people as the sea and the rivers that flow into it provide a point of interactive connection that results in a true spirit of place and profound sense of being.

In functional terms this is a social environmental connection and may be read as a metaphor for a rich practical ecological knowledge, but for Marra it means much more as it is a conceptual anchor point for Marra social organisation a unique cultural identity.

Non Marra people may separate Country to names like geography, landscape, sea scape or a spirit scape, to Marra they’re all related and people, Country and ancestral beings including plants and animals are all emotionally connected.

All these places and Country aren’t separate but rather they are points on Country that the dreaming and ancestral beings are known to still reside and it is to these places that Mara social memory can be anchored.

The place names and dreaming paths and song lines that can be seen as forms of dissent lines that are part of a system that seeks to include all people and nonhuman entities within a kin centric order that creates the political understanding of the traditional ownership of Minirringi, Jungkayi and Darlyin.

Our Country

The land parts of our country stretch from the Gulf of Carpentaria between the Roper River in the north to Rosie Creek in the south, and inland to the headwaters of the Cox and Towns rivers.

Our sea country includes Kurrulinya (Maria Island) and Yumunguni (Beatrice Island) and their reefs, and extends offshore with our songlines. Our neighbours are the Warndarrang, Yanyuwa, Alawa and Gudanji peoples. We share responsibility for old Ngalakan Country and Wilangarra Country with our neighbours.

The land parts include rivers, tidal flats, creeks and other freshwater places, plateaus, rocky areas and gorges, and low hills and plains. The vegetation includes forests on the banks of the freshwater places and in the gorges, savanna woodlands on the low hills and plateaus, and mangroves in the tidal areas.

The sea includes the open sea, currents, islands and reefs. While our country covers both land and sea, we identify as ‘saltwater people’.

We are intrinsically connected to the sea and our cultural identity is shaped by this relationship.

Our Cultural Authority

Under Marra culture, all country, people, animals and plants belong to one of three main semi-moieties, or clans:

  • Budal
  • Mambali
  • Murrungun


Each clan area also has Minirringki (owners of country) and Jungkayi (guardians or custodians of country). 

Darlyin have certain ceremonial responsibilities including checking Jungkayi are doing the right thing, as well as helping protect country including sacred sites. 

Darlyin can be Gagu, who has primary say in these matters or Abuji, who has the next say. 

It is important that Minirringki, Jungkayi and Darlyin are involved in decisions about country. They speak for country

Our country and our people

Our Cultural Authority

Under Marra culture, all country, people, animals and plants belong to one of three main semi-moieties, or clans:

  • Budal
  • Mambali
  • Murrungun

Each clan area also has Minirringki (owners of country) and Jungkayi (guardians or custodians of country). 

Darlyin have certain ceremonial responsibilities including checking Jungkayi are doing the right thing, as well as helping protect country including sacred sites. 

Darlyin can be Gagu, who has primary say in these matters or Abuji, who has the next say. 

It is important that Minirringki, Jungkayi and Darlyin are involved in decisions about country. They speak for country

Marra Identity

Marra People, Marranbala, identify as saltwater people as the sea and the rivers that flow into it provide a point of interactive connection that results in a true spirit of place and profound sense of being.

In functional terms this is a social environmental connection and may be read as a metaphor for a rich practical ecological knowledge, but for Marra it means much more as it is a conceptual anchor point for Marra social organisation a unique cultural identity.

Non Marra people may separate Country to names like geography, landscape, sea scape or a spirit scape, to Marra they’re all related and people, Country and ancestral beings including plants and animals are all emotionally connected.

All these places and Country aren’t separate but rather they are points on Country that the dreaming and ancestral beings are known to still reside and it is to these places that Mara social memory can be anchored.

The place names and dreaming paths and song lines that can be seen as forms of dissent lines that are part of a system that seeks to include all people and nonhuman entities within a kin centric order that creates the political understanding of the traditional ownership of Minirringi, Jungkayi and Darlyin.

Our Country

The land parts of our country stretch from the Gulf of Carpentaria between the Roper River in the north to Rosie Creek in the south, and inland to the headwaters of the Cox and Towns rivers.

Our sea country includes Kurrulinya (Maria Island) and Yumunguni (Beatrice Island) and their reefs, and extends offshore with our songlines. Our neighbours are the Warndarrang, Yanyuwa, Alawa and Gudanji peoples. We share responsibility for old Ngalakan Country and Wilangarra Country with our neighbours.

The land parts include rivers, tidal flats, creeks and other freshwater places, plateaus, rocky areas and gorges, and low hills and plains. The vegetation includes forests on the banks of the freshwater places and in the gorges, savanna woodlands on the low hills and plateaus, and mangroves in the tidal areas.

The sea includes the open sea, currents, islands and reefs. While our country covers both land and sea, we identify as ‘saltwater people’.

We are intrinsically connected to the sea and our cultural identity is shaped by this relationship.

Our country and our people

Our Country

The land parts of our country stretch from the Gulf of Carpentaria between the Roper River in the north to Rosie Creek in the south, and inland to the headwaters of the Cox and Towns rivers.

Our sea country includes Kurrulinya (Maria Island) and Yumunguni (Beatrice Island) and their reefs, and extends offshore with our songlines. Our neighbours are the Warndarrang, Yanyuwa, Alawa and Gudanji peoples. We share responsibility for old Ngalakan Country and Wilangarra Country with our neighbours.

The land parts include rivers, tidal flats, creeks and other freshwater places, plateaus, rocky areas and gorges, and low hills and plains. The vegetation includes forests on the banks of the freshwater places and in the gorges, savanna woodlands on the low hills and plateaus, and mangroves in the tidal areas.

The sea includes the open sea, currents, islands and reefs. While our country covers both land and sea, we identify as ‘saltwater people’.

We are intrinsically connected to the sea and our cultural identity is shaped by this relationship.

Our Cultural Authority

Under Marra culture, all country, people, animals and plants belong to one of three main semi-moieties, or clans:

  • Budal
  • Mambali
  • Murrungun


Each clan area also has Minirringki (owners of country) and Jungkayi (guardians or custodians of country). 

Darlyin have certain ceremonial responsibilities including checking Jungkayi are doing the right thing, as well as helping protect country including sacred sites. 

Darlyin can be Gagu, who has primary say in these matters or Abuji, who has the next say. 

It is important that Minirringki, Jungkayi and Darlyin are involved in decisions about country. They speak for country

Marra Identity

Marra People, Marranbala, identify as saltwater people as the sea and the rivers that flow into it provide a point of interactive connection that results in a true spirit of place and profound sense of being.

In functional terms this is a social environmental connection and may be read as a metaphor for a rich practical ecological knowledge, but for Marra it means much more as it is a conceptual anchor point for Marra social organisation a unique cultural identity.

Non Marra people may separate Country to names like geography, landscape, sea scape or a spirit scape, to Marra they’re all related and people, Country and ancestral beings including plants and animals are all emotionally connected.

All these places and Country aren’t separate but rather they are points on Country that the dreaming and ancestral beings are known to still reside and it is to these places that Mara social memory can be anchored.

The place names and dreaming paths and song lines that can be seen as forms of dissent lines that are part of a system that seeks to include all people and nonhuman entities within a kin centric order that creates the political understanding of the traditional ownership of Minirringi, Jungkayi and Darlyin.

Visiting Mara Country

Report an Issue

If you wish to report an issue or provide an advisory, please share the details so regional administrators can be made aware. 

Your input helps ensure timely responses and supports the wellbeing of the community and region.

Contact Us

About Marra Country

Marra Country is in the Limmen Bight, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, in the eastern part of the NT.  Marra people described the coastal extent of their Country as from just north of the Roper River mouth, south to around Wardawarra (Rosie Creek). There are many songlines (kujika) which travel through Marra Sea Country and lay out the truth and Daway- Law.

Some of these are shared with visitors and the wider public to deepen understanding of this unique region, while others remain private and are respected as such.

View Maps

Code of Conduct

We are presently working on developing a Code of Conduct and Values framework that will guide and support this Visitor Advisory.

This code-of-conduct will help ensure a shared understanding of expectations, respectful engagement, and the principles that shape how we work together.

Please check again soon!

Visiting Marra Country

Code of Conduct

We are presently working on developing a Code of Conduct and Values framework that will guide and support this Visitor Advisory.

This code-of-conduct will help ensure a shared understanding of expectations, respectful engagement, and the principles that shape how we work together.

Please check again soon!

Report an Issue

If you wish to report an issue or provide an advisory, please share the details so regional administrators can be made aware. Your input helps ensure timely responses and supports the wellbeing of the community and region.
Contact Us

About Marra Country

Marra Country is in the Limmen Bight, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, in the eastern part of the NT.  Marra people described the coastal extent of their Country as from just north of the Roper River mouth, south to around Wardawarra (Rosie Creek). There are many songlines (kujika) which travel through Marra Sea Country and lay out the truth and Daway- Law.

Some of these are shared with visitors and the wider public to deepen understanding of this unique region, while others remain private and are respected as such.

View Maps

Visiting Marra Country

About Marra Country

Marra Country is in the Limmen Bight, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, in the eastern part of the NT.  Marra people described the coastal extent of their Country as from just north of the Roper River mouth, south to around Wardawarra (Rosie Creek). There are many songlines (kujika) which travel through Marra Sea Country and lay out the truth and Daway- Law.

Some of these are shared with visitors and the wider public to deepen understanding of this unique region, while others remain private and are respected as such.

View Maps

Code of Conduct

We are presently working on developing a Code of Conduct and Values framework that will guide and support this Visitor Advisory.

This code-of-conduct will help ensure a shared understanding of expectations, respectful engagement, and the principles that shape how we work together.

Please check again soon!

Report an Issue

If you wish to report an issue or provide an advisory, please share the details so regional administrators can be made aware. 

Your input helps ensure timely responses and supports the wellbeing of the community and region.

Contact Us