Did Aboriginal and Asian people trade before European settlement in Darwin?
It's long been thought that Indigenous interactions with Europeans officially began after white settlement. But the Yolngu people of the Northern Territory say they were trading with Indonesians for hundreds of years before that.
What we do know is that Aboriginal people from the north coast of Australia were travelling to the far reaches of South-East Asia long before white settlers ever arrived Down Under.
This story is part of Curious Darwin, our new series where you ask us the questions, you vote for your favourite, and we investigate. You can submit your question or vote on our next topic here.
Warning: This article contains images of deceased Indigenous Australians
Question-asker Kathryn, a 27-year-old accountant from Sydney, asked us whether Asian groups met or traded with Aboriginal groups on the northern coast of the NT.
Photo Makassan praus off Raffles Bay near the Coburg peninsula, drawn by L. Breton in 1839.
Her question was sparked by curiosity about whether history at school told the full story about first contact.
"In school I always learnt the first people who came to Australia were the Dutch or Captain Cook, and I thought we're never really looking at maybe other groups that the Aboriginal people were contacting," she said.
So who were they in contact with? The answer isn't straightforward.
The exact dates of contact with outsiders have long been the subject of dispute, with Aboriginal oral history saying trading began hundreds of years before Captain Cook arrived, and historians debating over more recent dates.
Historical evidence shows the Dutch East India Company discovered the north coast of Australia in 1606, but the Dutch did not believe there was anything of value in Australia, so no trade occurred.
Seafarers from Sulawesi in Indonesia, known as Makassans, had reached northern Australia by at least the 18th century, beginning about 200 years of international trade.
Photo A Makassan trepang processing site at Raffles Bay drawn by L. Breton in 1839.
The Makassans, however, discovered the Top End was bountiful in trepang — or sea cucumber — which could be harvested and sold amid a booming trade in China.
What is certain is that Yolngu people from Arnhem Land travelled to Makassar and beyond — to other countries such as Singapore and the Philippines — aboard Makassan boats.
In Sulawesi, Yolgnu people lived among the local people, forged relationships, learned the language, and had families.
The discovery of trepang started a special relationship between the two cultures that's still present today.
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