Puwurr (Dreamtime)
For Jawoyn people the history of their country began during the period called Puwurr, sometimes written as Purr. The Jawoyn describe their lore below:

This lore was given to us in the time we call Puwurr, often called Dreaming or Dreamtime. It was during this time that the world was made and the rules for proper behaviour were laid down. During this period, beings in the form of humans, animals and plants brought the landscape to life by ‘putting themselves’ into the country. They travelled the land above and below the ground, giving names to places and specifying dangerous areas and sites to avoid. ‘They gave the country its language and in doing so designated which people would belong to it. In travelling on to neighbouring countries they established relationships across language group boundaries with some far away people.

We tell of these travels in stories and songs, some of which are public and others which are used in secret ceremonies. Our land was first created by Pula, who came from the salt water country to the north. With his two wives, he hunted across the land and in doing so transformed the landscape through his actions. In a number of places Pula finally went underground in an area north of Katherine known to us as the ‘sickness country’. It is called this because the area is very dangerous and should not be disturbed for fear that earthquakes and fire will destroy the world. We regard Pula as the most important figure in our dreaming. ‘Another important dreaming figure was Nakorrkko, a tall spiritual being from the salt water country in the north. Nakorrkko taught much about proper behaviour, kinship systems, marriage, relationships and he gave the law about Mowurrwurr or clan groups and he showed what foods (plant and animal) clans could eat and could not eat’.

The temporal use of the Puwurr or dreamtime should not be interpreted as something only from the past. Again in the words of the Jawoyn ‘Puwurr is as significant today to our people as it always has been. It encompasses all aspects of life. It is the land (its gorges, its plants and animals, its rocks and rivers) and the people and all living creatures. It is the past, the present and the future’.

This very brief account of Jawoyn history and lore provides only a partial explanation of a complex and detailed subject. Many other important creation figures and aspects of Jawoyn history and law have not been discussed here.

European Settlement in Katherine
The first recorded European expedition to reach the Katherine area was led by Scotsman John McDougall Stuart in 1862, who named the Katherine River at a place about 90 km upstream from the current town. Stuart provided favourable reports of the country in the Katherine region, and these in conjunction with the reports of Augustus Gregory from his expedition to the Victoria River area in 1855-6 led to the annexation of the Northern Territory in 1863 by the South Australian Government.

Katherine was also the name given to the Overland Telegraph Station opened on the south bank of the river in 1872, about one kilometre east of the site of the current hospital. During the 1870s several local grazing leases were taken up including Glencoe, Springvale and Elsey; Alfred Giles stocked Springvale with 12,000 sheep and 2,000 cattle in 1879. During 1887 Giles discovered gold at Maudie Creek (now known as Maude Creek) and in the next few years Katherine grew. The discovery of gold at Pine Creek in 1871 and tin at Maranboy, where a government battery was established in 1915, led to influxes of miners and settlers to the Katherine area. The railway line from Darwin was extended to the north bank of the Katherine River in 1917 and as a result the town of Emungalan was established.

In 1926 the first train crossed the river on a newly constructed bridge and Emungalan ceased to exist shortly after. The present site of the town of Katherine was surveyed in 1926 and land auctioned the same year. By the 1930s it was a well-established township, when it began to suffer during the great depression.

Jawoyn and the Europeans
Contact between the Jawoyn and Europeans probably began with J. M. Stuart, who traversed the region from south to north in 1862, crossing the Katherine River just above the gorge, and the plateau between the Katherine and Mary Rivers (Kearney 1988: 2-7). Contact intensified with the completion of the overland telegraph line and the establishment of a repeater station near the present town of Katherine. The period between 1870 and 1890 saw a rapid increase in the non-Aboriginal population in which the pattern of pastoral settlement became established and mineral exploration and mining began. The pastoral industry isolated traditional waterholes and food reserves and forced the local Aboriginal people to depend on cattle stations labour and handouts for their survival. A further factor in the undermining of the Jawoyn traditional lifestyle was the establishment of "Native Control Camps" during World War II. These camps not only restricted peoples movements over their traditional country but also forced prolonged contact with "outside" groups that put a strain on traditional social relationships (PWCNT 2002: 15-17).

The area that is now Nitmiluk was within the pastoral leases of Maud Creek and Eva Valley, but both Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) and Leliyn (Edith Falls) were popular tourist destinations from an early stage and were actively avoided by the Jawoyn. Katherine Gorge National Park was declared in 1962 and Edith Falls National Park in 1964.

The growth of Katherine and Jawoyn Country
World War II had a major impact on Jawoyn people and the Katherine area. There were many logistical improvements bought about by the military presence and upgrading of roads and infrastructure. Katherine and the rural population have steadily grown since the Second World War. A welfare settlement was established in 1951 at Bamyili, now called Barunga. Katherine Gorge was proclaimed a National Park in 1962.

Nitmiluk National Park
In 1978 Jawoyn people lodged a claim under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 over lands including Katherine Gorge National Park. Following negotiations between Jawoyn, NT Government and the Northern Land Council, the area was leased to the NT Government for the purposes of a national park in accordance with the Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park Act 1989.