The clans maintain their traditions and have strong ties with the people in the community of Numbulwar and on Bickerton Island.

[10] Groote Eylandt has a variety of habitats: dense stands on monsoon forests rising behind coastal sand dunes, alternating with mangrove and mudflats.

[12] Until recently, the island had been open to the public only with permission, and the local Aboriginal Land Council did not encourage tourism.

The clans maintain their traditions and have strong ties with the people in the community of Numbulwar and on Bickerton Island.

There had been regular contact between local Aboriginal people and Macassan traders who would visit the area searching for trepang from around the early to mid-1700s.

[14][15] The first recorded European sighting of Groote Eylandt was in 1623, by the Dutch ship Arnhem, under Willem van Coolsteerdt.

However, the relative prevalence of the hereditary Machado-Joseph Disease (MJD) in the Groote Eylandt community (a condition otherwise mainly found in the Azores) was previously suggested as evidence of early contact with Portuguese sailors.

[17] The first European settlement on the island was a Christian mission established by the Church Missionary Society at Emerald River in 1921.

In 1943, after a cyclone swept through the mission, CMS decided to move the settlement south of the Angurugu River.

[18] Mr Fred H. Gray, a pearl and trepang trader, established the Umbakumba Native Settlement on an old Macassan trading post in 1938.

[25][26] Sylvia Tkac, an Anindilyakwa woman,[27] who used to work at the mine said of it:[23] We are worried about the future of our children, so we'd like them to do more testing and we'd like to know what positive programs they can put in place to stop this dust.Studies have also taken place looking at the impacts on the ecosystem; this includes specific studies looking at the impact of northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus) living in the area.

[22] In March 2024 a carrier of the manganese ore, MV Anikitos, caused significant damage to the mines port during Cyclone Megan; this did not lead to a fuel leak but did, temporarily, halt production.

[31] In 2019 Wichelsea Mining was granted an exploration license covering part of Winchelsea Island (Akwamburrkba), which is off the northwestern coast of Groote Eylandt.

In return, the government will spend money in the community to improve housing, education, and health in the area.