ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a theoretical foundation for capacity building and development on the Gove Peninsula. Practical aspects are given by a historical account revealing the local Indigenous Yolngu people, who are the first Australians, had been engaged in entrepreneurial venturing long before the First Fleet sailed into Botany Bay in 1788. Connections are also made with an obligation to balance social, political, environmental and economic dimensions to draw a salient conclusion that developing capacity building in emerging societies in the Asia Pacific region has been interpreted too narrowly. Historically, Yolngu capacity development is portrayed as a function of how autonomy and dependency are exercised. The Yolngu people displayed dissatisfaction with the decision by the Australian federal government to excise 140 square miles from the Arnhem Land Reserve for mining. Australian Indigenous society has frequently been depicted as fragmented and excluded from the mainstream national economy.
