Angurugu is on Groote Eylandt. The island was stumbled upon by seventeenth century explorers on a trip to the East Indies, who had been sailing around parts of the northern coast of Australia. The name of the island is Dutch for 'great island'. Groote Eylandt is on the western side of the Gulf of Carpentaria, with 50 kilometres separating it from the main land. The Aborigines on the island are the Warnindilyaugwa.

In the last two months of 1916, the Reverend H.E. Warren headed for Groote Eylandt with the Reverend A.J. Dyer on the boat, 'the Evangel'. They were at the time stationed at the mission Ngukurr. They spent a total of thirteen days boating around the island. They climbed Central Hill where Warren carved the name of his wife on a rock.

They eventually came across the site they called Emerald River. Dyer chose the word Emerald because of the stunning colour of the water there. It was decided that this would make the best site for a mission on the island. They returned to their mission at Ngukurr and it was not until 1921 that Emerald River Mission was up and running.

This was the first mission on the island. It was transferred to Angurugu in 1943. It was nearly destroyed in 1923 by a treacherous flood. Primarily the mission cared for half castes in the first decade of its existence. It was the perseverance of Warren who kept this mission going, as it was he who often had to make the journey on the boat 'the Holly', transporting supplies and people to and from Emerald River.

The Holly served the mission for a good twenty years, being an important lifeline for those living at the mission. The trip in the Gulf of Carpentaria was at times a very hazardous one, as the area was prone to the odd very bad storm or cyclone. In 1924 she ran aground on a reef but was saved. Five years later a cyclone nearly saw to it that she never sailed again, literally throwing her onto the beach.

Even after this incident a dam was built around her and she was refloated. Finally, the inevitable happened and a cyclone in 1940 got the better of her, ensuring that this time she really would never again have the sea breeze filling her sails.

In 1925 Captain George Hubert Wilkins, the renowned Antarctic and Arctic explorer visited the Warrens on the island at the mission. He was collecting samples of rare native fauna for the British Museum in the North Australia. He spent his time on the island exploring and was lucky to get to meet some of the local Aboriginal females.

Apart from on one occasion, none of the missionaries had been granted permission by the Aborigines to do this. On one of his day trips he thought that the Aborigines were actually going to attack him. He placed his samples and camera into a hole in the ground to protect them, making a mark on the bark of a nearby tree. As it turned out, he had in fact misjudged the situation and was not harmed.

During the Second World War the RAAF took control of the airstrip. It was decided that such close contact with whites would be detrimental to the locals, so the mission was moved to Angurugu. Despite this, the mining operations and prawning factory which opened in later years resulted in considerable contact with Europeans.

The main groups on the island are the Maminyamanja, Lalara, Wurramara, Wurramarrba, Amagula, Jaragba and Badalamba.

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