Due to its links with the Northern Territory and proximity to the border, the APY Lands do not observe daylight savings unlike the rest of South Australia. The time zone observed throughout the year is Australian Central Standard Time (UTC+9:30), in line with Darwin rather than Adelaide.
Geography
Indulkana (Iwantja) is situated about 10 kilometres (6.2mi) west of the Stuart Highway and 360 kilometres (220mi) south of Alice Springs.[7] By road it is 1,134 kilometres (705mi) (approx.11.5 hours) north-west of Adelaide GPO.[8]
Climate
Based upon the climate records of the nearest weather station at Marla Police Station, Indulkana experiences summer maximum temperatures of an average of 37.1 degrees Celsius in January and a winter maximum average temperature of 19.7 degrees Celsius in June. Overnight lows range from a mean minimum temperature of 21.8 degrees in January to 5.0 degrees in June.
Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Media (PY Media) states on its website:[7]
Indulkana is an Anangu community, often referred to as Iwantja, on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in the northwest of South Australia. Although Indulkana is regarded as an Pitjantjatjara community, the majority of people at Indulkana refer to themselves as Yankunytjatjara, which is a group having its origins in the eastern section of the Lands.
The community consists of approximately 200-250 people with a small number of people occupying outlying homelands.
As of the 2021 Australian census, 338 people resided in Indulkana (Iwantja),[2] up from 256 in the 2016 census.[6] The median age of persons in Indulkana was 26 years. There were less males than females, with 46.4% of the population male and 53.6% female. The average household size was 4.6 people per household.[2]
43.6% of households had at least one person access the internet from the dwelling.
With 41.4% of the community characterised as Professionals and 29.3% as Community and Personal Service Workers 29.3%,[6] the skilled categories were higher than the average across the APY lands (33.4% and 25.9% respectively), although managers numbered fewer.[10]
History
In 2001 the population was 225 (no median age cited). 84.4% spoke Pitjantjatjara at home, and 2.2% Yankunytjatjara 2.2%. 8.4% spoke only English at home.[11]
In 2006, the population was 315, with a median age of 22. 63.8% Yankunytjatjara; 16.5% Pitjantjatjara; 1.3% Ngaanyatjarra; 17.8% English only at home.[12]
In 2011 the population was 310, with a median age of 26. 60.1% spoke Pitjantjatjara and 26.6% Yankunytjatjara; 1.3% Arrernte; 9.1% spoke only English at home.[13]
History
Little is recorded of the history of Indulkana's foundation as a fixed settlement for habitation. There is likely more history of the Iwantja homelands surrounding the settlement.
Indulkana has been recorded as the birthplace of 1984 Australian of the Year and Indigenous advocate Lowitja O'Donoghue, by some sources,[14] but her exact birthplace was never registered and her official biographer records De Rose Hill as her place of birth.[15]
In the late 1990s, the Indulkana community invited the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (SA) to run a program to address the problem of petrol sniffing in their community.[16]
Facilities
Indulkana does not have a permanent police presence, though it has a police station. South Australia Police are based at Marla and service the area.[citation needed] There is a police station at Umuwa, though it has not been permanently staffed.[17]As of 2020[update] a new, permanent policing complex is being built at Umawa. It will accommodate officers with specialist response capabilities, as well provide a base for a mobile unit which will be deployed in Fregon/Kaltjiti, Indulkana and Pipalyatjara. The service will work closely with child protection service agencies address child abuse and family violence issues.[18][19] The 2019–2020 Government of South Australia agency budget estimates the completion date as June 2021, with a total spend of A$4.28 million.[20]
Indulkana has a local community store with a fuel supply outlet.
There is an unsealed airstrip located close to the town.
A doctor lives in the community and services the health clinics at both Indulkana and Mimili Community to the west.
Indulkana is one of the two communities on the APY Lands that provides an aged care facility for elders, the other being Ernabella.
The Indulkana Anangu School was established after 1971, recounted on the School's website as follows:
Leslie Mingkilli wrote a letter to the South Australian Government on behalf of Indulkana Community asking for funding and help to establish a school. He wrote to the Government in the Pitjantjatjara language, insisting that a school be started at Indulkana. Leslie was educated at Ernabella (Pukatja) community where he learnt to read and write English and Pitjantjatjara. This dream finally came true when Leslie went to Adelaide and returned with David Emery, the first Principal and three teachers. The school began with tents and sheds made of timber and brush from the surrounding bush.
The school is supported by Aboriginal Education Workers and a computer facility with 24-networked computers with Internet access.
As of 2013[update], Indulkana has a Youth Shed that has been supervised by Uniting Care Wesley Country SA[21][22] staff since 2011. Youth workers run the facility six days a week during the school holidays but it is closed every Sunday during the school term.[23] 6 public computers with internet access and wi-fi is available at no cost. Public toilets are located on the premises, along with showering facilities which are available on request for visitors. Activities available include pool tables, darts, musical instruments (drums, guitars & percussion), Xbox, wii, reading material & books, colouring activities, painting, craft, jewelry making, music and sports equipment.[24]
For State elections (i.e. to elect the Parliament of South Australia), a mobile polling booth is taken to Indulkana.
Iwantja Arts
Iwantja Arts was named after Iwantja Creek, where the community was first established. It was created in a building used as a community centre, later transformed into a craft centre focusing on fabric dyeing, jewellery making, and tjanpi (spinifex grass) weaving. There is a long history of printmaking among local artists, and examples of their work is held in both the South Australian Museum and National Gallery of Australia. It continues as an important art form, and both relief and intaglio forms are used in the studio.[25]
In the early 1980s, artists Alec Baker and Sadie Singer drove to Adelaide and then on to Canberra, to advocate for funding to develop facilities for a contemporary arts centre, including a printmaking workshop and painting studios. It is now a not for profit, Aboriginal-owned and -run corporation, with a gallery for sale of art work from the Lands.[25]
Iwantja Arts is one of ten Indigenous-owned and -governed enterprises that go to make up the APY Art Centre Collective,[26] established in 2013.[27]
Betty Muffler is another longtime Iwantja Arts artist and ngangkari (healer), whose work was featured in the 2020 Tarnanthi exhibition[28] as well as on the cover of the September 2020 issue of Vogue Australia.[29] She is also a director of the centre.[30]
↑ Cole, Kelli; Hartshorn, Aidan (5 January 2021). "Betty Muffler: hope and healing". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 12 July 2021. This interview was first published in the Spring 2020 edition of Artonview.
Aṉangu is the name used by members of several Aboriginal Australian groups, roughly approximate to the Western Desert cultural bloc, to describe themselves. The term, which embraces several distinct "tribes" or peoples, in particular the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara groups, is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable:.
Kalka is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia administered under the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act 1981.
Anungu schools is a group of ten schools operated by the Government of South Australia which are located in the west of the Australian state of South Australia. Eight are located in the Aboriginal lands of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, while one is in Maralinga Tjarutja and on in the community of Yalata, all offering primary and secondary schooling to a local body of students who are largely Aboriginal.
Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, also known as APY, APY Lands or the Lands, is a large, sparsely-populated local government area (LGA) for Aboriginal people, located in the remote north west of South Australia. Some of the Aṉangu (people) of the Western Desert cultural bloc, in particular Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra peoples, inhabit the Lands.
Amata is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands".
Mimili is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands". At the 2016 Australian census, Mimili had a population of 243.
Pipalyatjara is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands". Other smaller communities include Nyapari, Kanpi, Kalka, Yunyarinyi. At the 2016 census, Pipalyatjara had a population of 189. The residents are mainly Anangu who speak Pitjantjatjara as their first language.The closest community is Kalka to the West.
Umuwa is an Aboriginal community in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara in South Australia, serving as an administrative centre for the six main communities on "The Lands", as well as the outlying communities. It is located approximately 250 kilometres (160 mi) north-west of Marla and 460 kilometres (290 mi) south-west of Alice Springs.
Pukatja is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands".
Kaltjiti is an Aboriginal community in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands".
Watarru Community is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in South Australia. Watarru Community sits at the foot of Mount Lindsay and the community has at times been known as "Mount Lindsay".
Mintabie is an opal mining community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara in South Australia. It was unique in comparison to other communities situated in the APY Lands, in that its residents were largely not of Aboriginal Australian origin, and the land had been leased to the Government of South Australia for opal mining purposes since the 1980s.
The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act 1981 grants certain land and other rights to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara in South Australia. It began its life as the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act and commenced operation on 2 October 1981. Its long name title is "An Act to provide for the vesting of title to certain lands in the people known as Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara; and for other purposes". The Act has since had several amendments, the latest in 2017.
Yunyarinyi is an Aboriginal homeland on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia. It is located about 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of the border with the Northern Territory, 320 km (200 mi) south of Alice Springs.
Kaṉpi is an Aboriginal community in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia. It is located about 20 km (12 mi) south of the Northern Territory border at the base of the Mann Ranges. The nearby town of Nyapari is 15 km (9.3 mi) to the east.
Nyapaṟi is an Aboriginal community in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia. It is located about 20 km (12 mi) south of the Northern Territory border at the base of the Mann Ranges. The nearby community of Kanpi is 15 km (9.3 mi) to the west.
Murputja is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara in South Australia.
Tarnanthi is a Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art held in Adelaide, South Australia, annually. Presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) in association with the South Australian Government and BHP. It is curated by Nici Cumpston.
Ngangkari are the traditional healers of the Anangu, the Aboriginal peoples who live mostly in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara of South Australia and the Western Desert region, which includes parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The word in the Arrernte languages of Central Australia is ngangkere. Ngangkari have been part of Aboriginal culture for thousands of years, and attend to the physical and psychic health of Anangu.
Betty Muffler is an Aboriginal Australian artist and ngangkari (healer). She is a senior artist at Iwantja Arts, in Indulkana in Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, South Australia, known for a series of works on large linen canvases called Ngangkari Ngura .
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