Northern Territory Bitumen Strandings Progress: Report no. 1

The discovery of bitumen on beaches and rocky points between Bathurst Island and Elcho Island dates back to at least 1922 when a Reverend Jennison found a deposit on a beach near Elcho Island Mission. This was later described by Arthur Wade in 1924 as "flat cakes filling lenticular cavities on the flaggy beds". These have since been again recorded several times between 1965 and 1984. Some people think the bitumen near the old mission is in situ whereas others have seen bitumen draped all over the wave cut platform at low tide all along the island.