Peppimenarti
Peppimenarti is an Aboriginal community in the Daly River Region, located on Tom Turner Creek approximately 320 km south west of Darwin. The Community has a population of ~220 people. The locality name is drawn from the Aboriginal words Peppi (rock) and menarti (large), referring to the rock formation that overlooks the community. At its base is a wide stream and a series of pools which form a significant sacred site.The main language spoken in Peppimenarti is Tyemirri, with English being the second most spoken language in the area.
In the early 1970s, the independent Aboriginal organization Unia campaigned for the establishment of a cattle station within the Daly River Aboriginal Reserve, as a permanent home for the local Ngangikurrunggurr people. As a result, a 2,000 sq km pastoral lease was granted, and later consolidated by the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT) 1976. Harold Wilson, a prominent member of Unia, was instrumental in the community’s establishment. Wilson was born in Peppimenarti country, and after being removed from his family and sent to government institutions as a child, he decided to return there as an adult with his wife Regina Pilawuk Wilson and family, to set up a permanent settlement in 1974.