Numbulwar is considered to be the most isolated of all Arnhem Land communities, located as it is in the far south east corner on the coast. The only way of reaching it is by air and it is 570 kilometres from Darwin by air and 120 kilometres from Ngukurr.

The mission at Numbulwar was started by the Anglican Church Missionary Society in 1952. There had long been plans to establish a mission here, going back to the 1920s. However, their already existing missions kept the Anglicans busy, plus they were experiencing a shortage of both cash and staff, two basic prerequisites for the founding of a mission.

It was a member of the local Nunggubuyu people, Madi Murrungun, who had been temporarily living in the vicinity of the Roper River Mission (at Ngukurr) and had encountered the missionaries there, who invited the Anglican Society to set up a mission at Numbulwar. Houses, a hospital and school were all constructed along with an airstrip. The Church was completed in 1961.

Unlike many of the other communities dotted around Arnhem Land, the Aborigines at Numbulwar managed to maintain and preserve more of their culture and traditions because of their isolation.

The Nunggubuyu people derive their name from the word nunn meaning person, and wubuy which is the language spoken by the Numburindi people. The word Numburindi literally means the people of Wurindi which is an area in the southern part of Blue Mud Bay. Confusing and all as that may seem, it does provide a little insight into the world of these peoples and the derivation process for some of their words.

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