[3][4] In Norman Tindale's estimate, the Gaagudju possessed estates covering inland of the Van Diemen Gulf some 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi) between the eastern and southern Alligator Rivers, and running southwards as far as the mountain country.
[7][8] The Cobourg cattle company took up a lease for hunting buffalo in the Alligator River area in 1876, and Aboriginal people were a major part of the workforce.
[9] The Gaagudju, with the arrival of the feral buffalo hunter Paddy Cahill in their area in the 1880s, were employed by him in tracking and harvesting kills of this introduced animal.
[2] There was a dramatic population collapse in that area for the next three decades (1880-1920) due to introduced diseases and new colonial land use.
After Cahill's death the Gaahudju shifted to the Alice and Mary River areas, to continue buffalo hunting, and gradually Oenpelli was occupied by the Kunwinjku, who moved in from the west.