RAAF jets scrambled to intercept suspicious “on time” Airnorth flight

RAAF Base Tindal scrambled two F-35A jets this morning to intercept an Airnorth flight after suspicions were raised about an unusual flight pattern when it departed Darwin airport on time. Airnorth has been hit with a series of cancellations following an administration oversight: the firm recently found out that they needed to pay people to fly their aircraft and maintain their fleet, which hadn’t been factored into their recruitment plans.

Somewhere…just north of a song

Set amidst the rugged splendor of the Australian Outback, two fun-loving drifters, Singing raconteur Phil O’Brien and ex Jailbird Al Zimdahl come across a French beauty ‘Elisa’, alone in the middle of nowhere, and on a mission to find what she really wants out of life. A gifted Singer and musician, the bright lights of Paris and her Fathers business caused her disillusion, and she’d thrown herself into the empty vastness of the Northern Territory hoping to find answers.

America’s 51st state: North Australia

Australia’s celebrated Arnhem Land aerospace project, rather than being dedicatedly civilian as the nation was media-led to believe, will have a US military component. Can the town of Nhulunbuy be permitted to survive? Probably not. Rio Tinto’s bauxite mine will soon close and the only other functions of the town are as a servicing hub for local Aboriginal communities and as a staging post for tourism. Obviously, both roles will end. And the Indigenous population? Without access to Songline sites, morale will collapse, and Arnhem Aboriginal culture will go into terminal decline.

Islanders’ deadly inheritance

The wobble walk was an early sign of the Groote Eylandt “sickness” for Bakala. Police officers have been known to mistake the walk for public drunkenness. It wasn’t so long ago that Groote locals with the sickness were mistakenly thrown into paddy wagons, too panicked to slow down and concentrate on their words so they could explain themselves.

Throw a sea cucumber on the barbie: Australia’s trade history really is something to celebrate

There is evidence fishermen from Makassar, on what is now the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, were visiting the coast of what is now Arnhem Land to collect sea cucumbers as early as the mid-1600s to sell to Chinese merchants. The fishermen camped on the beach to boil and dry their caught trepang, and exchanged goods with the local Indigenous tribes.

The state of Australia’s Indigenous languages – and how we can help people speak them more often

In 1788 there were between 300 and 700 Indigenous languages spoken across Australia by millions of people, as shown in anthropologist Norman Tindale’s 1974 map. However in the Australian 2016 Census, only around 160 of these languages were reported as being spoken at home.