Barunga is an aboriginal community situated in the western corner of the Beswick Aboriginal Reserve. By road, it is situated 80km southeast of Katherine. Barunga is located alongside the Beswick Creek in a landscape of undulating savannah-covered hills. The town has a health clinic, a petrol station, camping grounds, sports oval, basketball courts and a well-serviced store.

The Barunga Festival is a must on the touring calendar for visitors to the Top End.

A community with a history
So what is the story behind Barunga, its people, its community growth and its economy? The following compiled by Barunga Community Centre teacher Anita Camfoo, is an outline of the history of this remote Top End community and a story of the Aboriginal people that call it home.

Maranboy Tin Mines
The Maranboy tin mines opened in 1913. Many white prospectors, who became the first settlers in the area, as well as Chinese and local people, worked at the mine. While employed at Maranboy, these workers were given rations like tea, sugar, flour, tobacco and matches and made their own clothing using the flour bags.

A roving community
The tin mines at Maranboy closed in 1945 and as a result the people returned to Beswick Creek (which Barunga was known as in its early days). In 1948, the community moved on from Beswick to Tang-Dangul. This turned out to be a good move because during the wet of 1950/51, the camp based at Beswick Creek was flooded. It was the heaviest wet they had and there was no high land nearby for people to move ot. So they stayed on at Tang-Dangul for two years, living on bush tucker and plenty of water. A few years later, the tables turned. There was no rain, the creeks dried up and they had problems with water. The community returned to Beswick Creek.

Developing Beswick
In early 1951, the NT Government started to develop the Beswick community, building reasonable houses made from tin and aluminium. The aborigines worked in settlement, where they had toilet facilities, laundries and a canteen.

Settling down
From there, jobs were started and people worked, earned money and supported their family. There were jobs available as plumbers, gardeners, carpenters and contractors for building houses. Farmers through the employment of aboriginal people, even started a peanut farm at Beswick Creek.

Name changes
During the time it was filled with people, Beswick was also known as Compound. Compound was a camp area on the other side of the river, a place where new tribes came to settle. There was not enough space for them in Beswick Creek so they made humpies in this area on the other side of the creek. In 1965, the elders changed the name to Bamyili. The river nearby is still called Beswick Creek.

Ceremonies
Ceremonies, which are still held today are an important part of community life. People used to travel out of the Bamyili Settlement to have their ceremonies at Tang-Dangul. There, people from up to 20 different tribes would gather. Some would travel as far as Bulman, Mainoru, Pine Creek and Tang-Dangul to attend these traditional ceremonies.

The school
The school was opened in 1954 with 42 children enrolled. In June 1961, it comprised a big building with two classrooms above ground level and one underground. In 1974 this structure burned to the ground. A larger school - with four classrooms was rebuilt a year later and a small preschool was also opened. In 1974, the people of Bamyili expressed concern that the younger kids were losing their language and culture, so a bilingual program was developed. The children were taught to read and write in their own language, as well as English. Today, Barunga CEC is a small dynamic school with students aged from 6 months to 19 years. It always aims to work at national and international best practise standards. Barunga has also had students reaching national benchmarks in literacy and numeracy every year since benchmarking commenced. This year the school is celebrating 51 years of service to the community.

Farms and jobs
Bamyili Settlement has a contractor, mechanic, a police officer, aboriginal police tracker, a sister and school teachers. The settlement had a farm with passionfruit, watermelons and lemons were grown as well as piggery and a poultry farm. The local aboriginal people ran these farms. In those days the councillors were really tough and strong. They were the old people and they looked after the settlement. A few years later, the farm was closed and all the activity stopped.

Barunga today
Today Barunga is a small community with a population of about 500 people. We have come a long way, we are proud of our people and our history.