Yolngu Radio

Yolngu Radio is the community station of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land, broadcasting from Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory. Run by the ARDS Aboriginal Corporation, an organization that has worked with the Yolngu since the 1970s, it speaks to its audience in its own language: Yolngu Matha alongside English, with news, health and education content made for the communities of the region.

In a part of Australia where English is a second language, a station that broadcasts in the local tongue is more than media - it is infrastructure. The service reaches the homeland communities scattered across Arnhem Land, places accessible only by air or rough roads. Beyond the region, the station streams live online, so anyone can hear one of the oldest living cultures of the world talking to itself, in its own voice.