Tiwi - Settlements

The Tiwi today live in housing largely built by outside contractors during the past ten to fifteen years, each with two to four bedrooms, kitchen and bath, electricity, and plumbing. Some families have built housing for themselves outside of the townships on their own local groups' land. What they gain in "rural" peace and quiet they lose in proximity to school, store, and clinic—all of which are located in each township. Many families own private vehicles or boats and leave their home township frequently to hunt, visit, attend ceremonies, or fly to Darwin for shopping and visiting. Perhaps the most important recent event in the history of the Tiwi was the granting back to the traditional Tiwi owners of all their original tribal lands (both Bathurst and Melville Islands) under the Land Rights Bill (Northern Territory) of 1976.