Photo Credit: Tourism NT.

cultureNauiyu is a small community nestled on the banks of the Daly River, arguably one of the best sport fishing rivers in Australia.

The traditional owners of the area are the Malak Malak people who live both in Nauiyu and at Wooliana downstream from the community.

European discovery of Daly River was in 1865 by Boyle Finniss, the first Premier of South Australia and Government Resident in the Northern Territory. Finniss named the river after Sir Dominick Daly, the Governor of South Australia, since the Northern Territory was at that time part of South Australia. The region lay untouched by Europeans until 1882 when copper was discovered.

Daly River town was the scene of some particularly bloody exchanges between the local Aborigines and the miners. In 1884 three miners were killed. The miners in the town wreaked vengeance on the local Aborigines out of proportion to the perceived crime. A year later, probably aware of the tensions in the area, the Roman Catholics established a mission in the town. As a result of Roman Catholic mission in this area, 75% percent of the population are Roman Catholics.