Munupi Wilderness Lodge: Melville Island fishing haven loses appeal against eviction

More than a decade after a fishing charter and traditional owners first locked horns, a fatal wound has finally been inflicted, with the business losing its last avenue of appeal against an eviction notice.

Kerri-Ann Neale, owner and operator of Munupi Wilderness Lodge on Melville Island. Picture: Facebook

Time is running out for a well-regarded fishing charter business on the Tiwi Islands, after its last avenue of appeal against an eviction notice was snuffed out.

Munupi Wilderness Lodge (also known as Clearwater Island Lodge) at Melville Island’s Pirlangimpi has been fighting attempts by the Tiwi Aboriginal Land Trust, which owns the land, to revoke its lease for more than a decade.

However, it now appears to have finally lost its long battle, with Supreme Court Justice Justice Sonia Brownhill ruling on April 30 against an appeal brought by Munupi against a decision by the Local Court of the Northern Territory to issue a warrant for vacant possession.

Long-serving Munupi employee Lynton Neale, whose sister Kerri-Ann owns and operates the business, said the actions of the Executive Director of Township Leasing, whose office has administered Pirlangimpi since 2017, and the judges’ rulings against the business, had “blown me away”.

“It’s shocking what they’re doing,” he said.

“My sister’s about to have a nervous breakdown.

“We’ve got 21 days to evacuate, or we can ask for an extension, I think, I’m not sure.

“But three weeks to move 25 years’ worth of a prosperous business is ridiculous.”

Mr Neale said the popular business, which was established in 1997 under different ownership and has benefited from about $250,000 worth of improvements, according to a 2014 Supreme Court decision, was still receiving booking requests “left, right and stupid, that we can’t fulfil”.

Munupi Wilderness Lodge employee Lynton Neale, whose sister, Kerri-Ann, owns the business. Picture: Facebook

He said that without the existing management and structure, the business was effectively worthless, as “we’ve got the licenses”.

“We have done that many things to try and keep that lodge and make an agreement for the lodge, but they [traditional owners] just keep knocking it back, they would not sign us a lease,” Mr Neale said.

“They just have it in their mind they can do it better, but they won’t even be able to get it off the ground because they don’t have the licenses.”

Attempts were made to contact the Tiwi Land Council.

According to Justice Brownhill in her April 30 decision, Munupi had not paid rent since October 2016 due to an inability to come to terms.

She said Munupi had occupied the site via an equitable lease since July 1, 2010 and, since July 1, 2015, this had been on a quarterly periodic basis.

A written notice to quit the premises, served on January 5, 2021, set off a cascade of legal actions, but Justice Brownhill found the Executive Director of Township Leasing had the power to seek to terminate the lease, and the Local Court did not act unlawfully by issuing the warrant.

In a November 2022 affidavit, Pennie Talbot, the executive director, testified that it was only after Munupi “failed to accept a sublease over the land on terms consistent with other subleases of land in the township, and continued to fail to pay rent,” that her office decided to turf Munupi once and for all.

Ms Neale, the business’ owner, said she wasn’t able to comment at this stage.