Nearly a quarter of The Territory's inhabitants are Aborigines, a far higher proportion than anywhere else in Australia. Most modern maps show that over one-third of The Territory is " Aboriginal Land ", commercially unviable and returned to nominal Aboriginal control following lengthy land claims. This uniquely Territorian demography is the result of the formerly sympathetic federal government's co-operation with the politically powerful Land Councils within the NT, established following the Land Rights Act of 1976. Since that time, one of the most notable victories has been the return of the national park surrounding Uluru (Ayers Rock) to its traditional custodians in 1986. Excepting the national parks, Aboriginal lands are out of bounds to visitors without a permit or invitation, although some roads which cross them are exempt.

 

While the overwhelming majority of non-Aboriginal people tend to live in the two major urban centres of Darwin and Alice Springs, most Aborigines live in remote Outback communities, or outstations , in self-imposed isolation from modern white society. This is worth remembering before you judge the depressing spectacle of the Aboriginal underclass staggering around Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. Estranged from their own "dry" communities, while at the same time alienated from the affluent white society that surrounds them, these people are the casualties of the catastrophic clash of white and Aboriginal culture which, in The Territory, is still within living memory. As Bill Harney, the first ranger at Ayers Rock, observed 35 years ago: "The traveller only sees the ones on the roadway, for should he want to visit one of the Aboriginal Reserves he has to go through a wall of red tape. Thus is the best side of Aboriginal life hidden and the worst exposed to our view." The same is true today.

The chasm between the two vastly different cultures is actually far greater than most visitors realize. The failure of assimilation - the naive policy of the 1950s and 1960s - added to mutual cultural (rather than racial) ignorance makes any meaningful contact for the short-term visitor unlikely. Weary suspicion of patronizing white curiosity, as well as an entirely different strategy in social dealings, render most exchanges awkward and superficial.

Despite the scandal of the "Third World" standards of living, Aboriginal culture is thriving. Political clout has encouraged self-determination and a renaissance of cultural pride in the face of overwhelming white control has enabled a self-expression in lifestyle, spirituality and - most obviously to the visitor - arts, crafts and tours. Gradually, progressive outstations are inviting responsible tour operators to visit their settlements, or else are setting up their own operations, so allowing you to experience something of their former way of life - for it must be remembered that even in The Territory no Aborigines live in or off the bush as they once did. Nevertheless, for those interested in getting to the heart of the enigmatic Australian wilderness, the Northern Territory personifies the remote and mythologized Outback, offering enriching and memorable travel: an introduction to a land that has sustained a fascinating and sophisticated culture for at least sixty thousand years.