The Mission and Peppimenarti: An economic study of two Daly River Aboriginal Communities

Abstract

The purpose of this monograph is to examine the past, present and future economic circumstances of Aboriginal people living around the Daly River in the Northern Territory. To be precise, the area under study is bounded in the south by the Moyle River, in west by the sea and in the north and east by the Daly River and its immediate environs… The Study is in two parts. In Part 1, the history of developments in the area is outlined. Part 2 discusses contemporary matters, beginning with a detailed description of conditions found at the Mission and Peppimenarti during field work in 1982. This is followed by the presentation of social accounting material. These data allow a comparison to be made between the communities, with Australia as a whole, and with another Aboriginal community for which the author has collected similar data, namely Nguiu on Bathurst Island. Issues which are discussed in this context include the overall level of dependence of the communities on government aid, levels of investment, economic structure, and European beneficiaries from trade with these communities. Finally, I discuss development problems and prospects and offer some speculation about the future.