Aboriginal Children's Portraits from the Top End, Australia

Happy kids from the far north of the Northern Territory: Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands. These are all people of the sea, from the Arnhem Land communities of Maningrida, Milingimbi, Galiwin'ku (Elcho Island) and Numbulwar. Maningrida is home to a great variety of people: 14 indigenous languages are spoken here of which Ndjébbana and Burrara are the most prominent. Milingimbi and Galiwin'ku are home to Yolngu people, speaking Gupapuyngu and Djambarrpuyngu: two "Yolngu Matha" languages, very much alive. Numbulwar, on the Rose River, is Nunggubuyu country, in the south east, opposite Groote Eylandt.

The Tiwi people are a unique group, long isolated from mainland Australia, on Melville and Bathurst Island, to the north of Darwin. They speak a unique language (Tiwi) and, in spite of a strong Catholic background, retain a unique culture. As everywhere else, the children are a delight.