Location
The Tiwi Islands were once known as Sentinel Islands because of their strategic location approximately 100km north of Darwin in the Timor Sea. The most easterly of the two, Melville Island, covers 5,788 square kilometers, and Bathurst Island 2,200 square kilometers.
The Apsely Strait, which is about 64 kilometres in length, separates Melville and Bathurst Island from mainland Australia. They are the largest Australian islands after Tasmania, so large that they actually create their own weather pattern within the tropical monsoonal zone.
The climate on the Tiwi Islands is tropical. The Tiwi describe three distinct seasons; the dry (season of smoke/kumurrupunari), the build up (song of cicadas/tiyari) and the wet (storms/jamutakari.) The seasons frame the lifestyle of the Tiwi people, dictating the food sources available and their ceremonial activities.
