If governments can't close the gap, Groote Eylandt leaders want the autonomy to do it themselves - ABC News

On remote Groote Eylandt off the Northern Territory coast, Dennis Maminyamanja is keeping his Warnindilyakwa culture alive by continuing the tradition of making spears, which he learned from his grandfather.

"We use them for ceremony, dancing and we used to use them for fighting, if somebody pinch[es] another man's wife, they use this one," he said.

But he and his colleague at the Angurugu men's art centre, Daniel Ngurruwuthun, are frustrated some of their efforts to make sure their knowledge is passed on to the next generation, by bringing teenagers here every week to learn, aren't working.

"The young people should be with me and Daniel so they learn from the elders, this is for their future after I am gone, but no-one [is] interested, they just hang around the community, not working in a job," Mr Maminyamanja said.

"I'm worried, I want to see more men my age, under 30, come in here and sit down with us, because a lot of men here, my age, they don't do anything," Mr Ngurruwuthun said.

The art centre is just one of the initiatives traditional owners fund through their Anindilyakwa Land Council with royalties from the massive South32 manganese mine on their land to try to preserve their culture.

The land council's chairman Tony Wurramarrba said they also fund a women's art centre, a recording studio and a language centre.

"As Aboriginal people, it is very important that we maintain our identity, that's one of the strengths that we have, the culture within us," he said.

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