Groote Eylandt
— — red stone, white sand, the sea between.
Not only on a wall.
“The fourth-largest island in Australia, held by the Anindilyakwa people for tens of thousands of years. Red sandstone country drops to chalk-white beaches and a sea that goes the colour of old bottle glass at noon. Rock-art shelters in the south-east, mangrove mouths in the west, the manganese road cutting east toward Alyangula. Far enough from the mainland that the light arrives clean. — from the studio
Groote Eylandt, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Groote Eylandt sits in the western Gulf of Carpentaria, about 50 kilometres off the east coast of Arnhem Land, and at roughly 2,326 square kilometres it is the fourth-largest island in Australia. The island is the traditional country of the Anindilyakwa people, whose language of the same name is spoken across the fourteen clans of the archipelago. Abel Tasman charted the coast in 1644 and gave it the Dutch name meaning 'large island.' Today most of the population lives in the mining town of Alyangula on the west coast, with the communities of Angurugu and Umbakumba nearby.
The island's spine is Proterozoic sandstone, deeply weathered and stained the colour of dried blood where iron oxidises at the surface. In the south-east, sheltered overhangs hold rock-art galleries the Anindilyakwa have maintained for at least 8,000 years, including some of the earliest known depictions of Macassan praus from the trepang trade. South of Alyangula sits one of the world's largest manganese deposits, mined since 1966 by GEMCO, whose royalties flow back to the traditional owners through the Anindilyakwa Land Council.
Access is by permit only. The Anindilyakwa Land Council issues recreation and transit permits for non-residents, and the Groote Eylandt Lodge in Alyangula coordinates fishing charters and cultural visits with traditional-owner guides. Airnorth flies daily from Darwin to Groote Eylandt Airport, about a two-hour leg. The dry season from May to October brings settled trade-wind weather and clear water; the wet season from November through April closes most tracks and brings stingers to the inshore beaches.