A Piece of Makassar in Arnhem Land

Tuesday, October 5, 2004

FOUR centuries ago sailors from Makassar in South Sulawesi landed on Marege on the northern coast of Arnhem Land in what is now Australia’s Northern Territory. The men, braving the seas in their traditional sailboats known as padewakang, came to gather sea cucumbers and in the process associate with the aborigines, binding the culture, language, and tradition of two peoples of different racial and historical origin.

It’s been almost a century since the last padewakang lay anchor off the coast of Arnhem Land in 1907, leaving traces which still can be found on its shores. Tempo’s Endah W.S. visited Arnhem Land last August to record the legacy left by the intrepid sailors from Makassar in Australia and filed this report:

. tempo : 172982288695.

SO here is Arnhem Land, the homeland of the Aborigines. Located on the northern peninsula of the Australian continent, it looks to me on a flight in a 12-seater Cessna to Elcho Island like a tropical oasis. Shadows of coral reefs on shallow waters emerge from below the deep blue sea. Little ripples are in evidence as the waves seem to have broken out at sea before reaching the shores. The tropical forests and flat savannas blur under cover of dew

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