Tiwi Rangers

Tiwi Rangers Working to conserve the natural environment using cultural and contemporary knowledge and practices.

The Tiwi Islands, located north of Darwin in the NT, include Australia’s second and fifth largest islands - Melville and Bathurst. The Tiwi Land and Marine Rangers look after more than 800,000 hectares of biodiversity-rich country and more than a thousand kilometres of spectacular coastline. The Tiwi Marine Rangers (the NT’s first Indigenous Marine Ranger program!) have been operating since 2001 and the Land Rangers since 2006.

FERAL PIG CONTROL NOTICE – PLEASE AVOID IMALU BEACH!! Rangers and contract shooters will be working around Imalu on Melv...
19/05/2026

FERAL PIG CONTROL NOTICE – PLEASE AVOID IMALU BEACH!!
Rangers and contract shooters will be working around Imalu on Melville Island this week - from Tuesday May 19 to Thursday May 21

Imalu is one of the largest and most important Olive Ridley Turtle nesting sites in Australia, but feral pigs are destroying their nests and eating their eggs – up to 90% of nests in some areas. Pigs also eat turtle hatchlings. Rangers want to protect Tiwi turtles and the first step is controlling pigs. Please do not go to Imalu Beach this week.

It’s Kimirrakinari (fire season) on the Tiwis and Rangers have started controlled burning across the islands, both on g...
06/05/2026

It’s Kimirrakinari (fire season) on the Tiwis and Rangers have started controlled burning across the islands, both on ground and from the air.

Kimirrakinari fires keep country healthy - they make less smoke, burn more patchily and are less destructive to Tiwi plants and animals than late dry season fires.

‘We've finally got the Crocwise message out!’ said Ranger Stanley Tipungwuti. Earlier this year young people were riskin...
02/05/2026

‘We've finally got the Crocwise message out!’ said Ranger Stanley Tipungwuti.

Earlier this year young people were risking their lives by jumping off the pontoon at Wurrumiyanga into the Apsley Strait. ‘I was shocked to see those kids swimming; we were so worried about them, there are so many crocs in the sea.’

In March, Rangers embarked on a Yirrikipayi education and safety tour across the islands. Stanley delivered nine talks to students in the five Tiwi schools. It was a great effort, and the result is that kids have stopped swimming in the sea!!

For Stanley and the rest of the Ranger team, it’s been a huge relief.
‘The kids listened to our Crocwise talks, and they followed up on the warnings. We made a big change by giving those talks - it’s a good thing. We will continue to keep kids safe from yirrikipayi.’

Tiwi College students missed out on the Yirrikipayi competition awards in March so here are the senior young women's drawings for everyone to enjoy. They did a fabulous job colouring in Fiona Kerinaiua’s beautiful artworks - we think they’re all winners!

Congratulations to the Tiwi College and Xavier Catholic College senior young women and the women rangers for a great wee...
27/04/2026

Congratulations to the Tiwi College and Xavier Catholic College senior young women and the women rangers for a great week of Conservation and Ecosystem Management training!

Last week 10 Tiwi College students, 8 Xavier students and 2 Tiwi Rangers - Shenaida Bush and Kimberley Stassi - completed the Cert II 'Observe Plants and Animals' unit at P***a with trainers from CDU as part of the Tiwi Junior Ranger Program. The practical component focused on insects – the tiny critters that live in the Tiwi bush. Insects play a key role in keeping country healthy – and there are lots of them. One hectare of Tiwi bush is home to many millions of ants, representing 100 or more different species!

Students collected insects using sweep nets and pitfall traps and identified them using microscopes and field guides. Learning the Tiwi names for birds, plants and insects was also part of the assessment, with students working with the Rangers and Tiwi staff to correctly match photos with names cards.

Some of the insects students caught included:
Waliwalinga – Green Tree Ants
Kwarikwaringa – Butterflies
Pipirriwini – Dragonflies
Murnani – Beetles
Japijapini – Flies

Xavier Catholic College Wurrumiyanga
RIEL - Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods

Karluwu Pussycat (Stop the Cats) tees are now available to purchase through the Jilamara Arts online store - https://jil...
26/03/2026

Karluwu Pussycat (Stop the Cats) tees are now available to purchase through the Jilamara Arts online store - https://jilamara.com/shop/

One Tiwi feral cat in one year kills 129 birds, 393 mammals and 225 reptiles (on average). A percentage of the sale of these t-shirts goes directly to the Tiwi Rangers for feral cat control.

The Yirrikipayi Safety Campaign got a whole lot more colourful this year!The Tiwi Junior Ranger Program asked artist Fio...
20/03/2026

The Yirrikipayi Safety Campaign got a whole lot more colourful this year!

The Tiwi Junior Ranger Program asked artist Fiona Kerinaiua from the Patakijiyali Museum for help with getting croc safety messages into schools and she contributed a series of beautiful drawings for kids to colour in.

Over the past couple of weeks Rangers and elders have been judging the artworks. Many students put in a lot of hard work making Fiona's drawings even more stunning, and the judges had a tough job picking winners.

Tiwi Resources Chair Alice Munkara said there were so many beautiful drawings it was hard to choose. 'The kids all did an amazing job, not just the ones that were the winners. It’s really important for them to learn about crocodiles. Crocs are too dangerous. Swimming, jumping off the pontoon into the sea, it’s too dangerous.'

The prizes for the winning artworks included basketballs and footballs. Congratulations to the winners and remember 'Watch out for Yirrikipayi!

Milikapiti School
• Austin Wonaeamirri
• Cass Kerinaiua
• Martha Desantis
• Summer Warlapinni
Murrupurtiyanuwu Catholic Primary School
• Nigella Tipungwuti
• Vivian Kerinaiua
• Dominica Munkara
• Terrisha Fernando
Xavier Catholic College Wurrumiyanga
• Allysha Lee Turner
• Sebanthia Campion
• Shekima Tipungwuti
• Braxton Nagawalli
Pularumpi School
• Marlene Brooks
• Lachlan Kantilla
• Kaicia King
• Millie Puruntatameri
• Joseph Burke
• Elkin Dunn

WATCH OUT FOR YIRRIKIPAYI!! Rangers and elders are really worried; too many kids are risking their lives by swimming in ...
20/03/2026

WATCH OUT FOR YIRRIKIPAYI!!
Rangers and elders are really worried; too many kids are risking their lives by swimming in the sea. The Tiwis are home to lots of very big and very dangerous saltwater crocodiles. All animals - including people - are food for yirrikipayi. It’s a big concern for everyone. As part of the Tiwi Junior Ranger program, rangers and elders have been visiting schools across the islands to educate students about crocodiles. Ranger Stanley Tipungwuti delivered nine croc safety talks to students over three weeks – a fabulous effort!
He was recently on a boat patrol up the Apsley Strait and saw young kids jumping off the Wurrumiyanga ferry pontoon, with older kids watching on. He couldn’t believe his eyes and told the Xavier Catholic College students that they needed to look out for the young ones. ‘You’re leaders here in the school and you need to lead when you’re outside school too. You were watching those little kids; I was shocked to see them swimming in the sea; you need to keep kids safe from yirrikipayi.’
Kids are taking too many risks with yirrikipayi according to IPA Committee member, John Wilson. “They’ve got to stay out the water; they can’t swim in the sea. It will be a tragedy if one of them gets eaten.”
Tiwi Resources Board Chair Alice Munkara said the ranger talks about crocodile safety were very important and young people, particularly in Wurrumiyanga, need to listen. “Kids are jumping off the pontoon into the sea, it’s too dangerous, they don’t realise. They need to be aware of those crocs. Those kids, once they’ve gone, they can’t come back. It will be bring big heartache to the community. It will be terrible.”
IPA Committee member Marilyn Kerinaiua said kids need to hear what the rangers are saying. ‘It’s not safe, the crocs, they eat people. They can grab the kids, stay out of the sea. Don’t jump off that pontoon. I’ve seen people taken away by crocodiles. It’s not safe, those kids might die, they won’t come back to us.’
A highlight of the Rangers’ school visits was a huge yirrikipayi skull (big thanks to the Crocodile Management Team in Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife!). Students were so excited to see such a big skull up close and learn more about crocodile biology. Pularumpi teacher Kaira Leung said the kids are still talking about the skull. ‘They loved it!’, she said.
Stanley reminded everyone not to clean fish or camp near the water's edge. ‘Yirrikipayi are very intelligent, they watch you, they’re good at hiding and can sneak up and grab you when you’re not expecting it.’
Thanks to Alice Munkara, John Wilson, Regina Kantilla, Dion Apuatimi, Marilyn Kerinaiua, Lorenzo Kerinaiua, Patrick Grant, Joseph Warlapinni and the Crocwise team in Darwin for helping the Rangers get crocodile safety messages out to schools.
And thanks for hosting us Milikapiti School, Xavier Catholic College Wurrumiyanga, Pularumpi School, MCPSMurrupurtiyanuwu Catholic Primary School and Tiwi College.
Remember - DON’T TAKE RISKS WITH YIRRIKIPAYI!

Last week the Tiwi Rangers visited Cairns to attend a seagrass monitoring workshop. Tiwi Rangers have been undertaking a...
13/03/2026

Last week the Tiwi Rangers visited Cairns to attend a seagrass monitoring workshop. Tiwi Rangers have been undertaking a joint research project with James Cook University and Charles Darwin University to map the seagrass around the Tiwi Islands. This workshop was an opportunity to learn from other ranger groups too.

26/02/2026

The new Tiwi Islands Indigenous Protected Area is an ark of extraordinary wildlife and natural abundance, but its turtle population is under threat.

Great news - the Tiwi Junior Ranger Program has funding until the end of 2027!!This means that Rangers, elders, CDU, and...
24/02/2026

Great news - the Tiwi Junior Ranger Program has funding until the end of 2027!!

This means that Rangers, elders, CDU, and the NT Government will be able to continue to deliver work experience opportunities, VET training in Conservation and Ecosystem Management (CEM) and cultural education activities to Tiwi students. NIAA Junior Ranger funding was due to run out at the end of last year, but Tiwi Resources successfully applied for an extension to the program.

The new funding allows the program to be expanded to include Xavier Catholic College and last week was the first joint activity. Xavier students joined Tiwi College students at P***a for a week of Certificate I training in safe work practices and ecosystem restoration.

Tiwi College Principal James Faraone said it was great to have the Xavier students on campus. ‘It’s an excellent opportunity to bring the two schools together’, he said. ‘We’re very happy Junior Ranger the funding came through and that the Program could be expanded to include Xavier. Our first week was great, the boys enjoyed catching up with their friends and they worked really well together. We look forward to a productive year of collaborative learning.’

Xavier VET Coordinator Henri King said undertaking the CEM training at P***a with the Tiwi College students had been a fantastic experience for the Xavier boys. ‘The boys were outstanding; they coped well with being out of their home environment and stepped up and worked hard,’ he said. ‘It was great to see all of the students pulling together as a team to complete the assessments.’

Eighteen students completed the two units for the week. CDU VET trainer, Jacqui Paine, said the week was a success. “We certainly found the students were engaged and lovely to teach’, she said.

Xavier Principal, Rhett Bowden said it was brilliant to see Xavier and Tiwi College working so closely and well together. ‘We’re extremely proud of our young men who participated in the program, and very grateful to the Tiwi Rangers and CDU for the opportunity to participate’, he said. ‘The men learnt so much and are inspired to continue with this study and program.’

Next month, Xavier senior young women will head to P***a to join Tiwi College senior young women for their turn at CEM training.

Xavier Catholic College Wurrumiyanga
Charles Darwin University

Address

C//PO Box 40245
Casuarina, NT
0811

Telephone

+61889411162

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