Warakurna Community

Last updated

Warakurna
Western Australia
Australia Western Australia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Warakurna
Warakurna Community
Coordinates 25.015°0′S128.299°0′E / 25.015°S 128.299°E / -25.015; 128.299
Population268 (UCL 2016) [1]
Postcode(s) 6642
Area51.8 km2 (20.0 sq mi)
Time zone ACST (UTC+9:30)
Location
LGA(s) Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku
State electorate(s) North West Central
Federal division(s) O'Connor
Mean max temp [2] Mean min temp [2] Annual rainfall [2]
29.4 °C
85 °F		15.9 °C
61 °F		287.8 mm
11.3 in

Warakurna is a large Aboriginal community, located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku and is situated on the Great Central Road (part of the Outback Way ultimately connecting Perth to Cairns diagonally across Australia). [3] It is at the western end of the Rawlinson Ranges. [4] At the 2016 census, Warakurna had a population of 268, including 237 who identified as Aboriginal Australians, most of whom speak Ngaanyatjarra at home. [5]

Contents

History

In the early 1970s several factors, including the availability of government funding for outstations, easier road access, and over-crowding at Docker River (Kaltukatjara) settlement and Warburton Mission, all combined to make the location of Giles Weather Station ideal for a new community. The Warakurna community became incorporated in 1976 and a member of the Ngaanyatjarra Council in 1981.

Native title

The community is located within the determined Ngaanyatjarra Lands (Part A) (WAD6004/04) native title claim area.

Town planning

Warakurna Layout Plan No.1 was prepared in accordance with State Planning Policy 3.2 Aboriginal Settlements and was endorsed by the community in 2003 and the Western Australian Planning Commission in 2004. [6]

Facilities

Children of school age at Warakurna attend the Warakurna campus of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands School which was formed in 2007 by administratively combining nine remote campuses in the Ngaanyatjarra lands. [4] Warakurna campus caters to year nine, then students must transfer to the larger campus at Warburton.

The community is serviced by the Giles Airstrip which provides a 24-hour all-weather 1,600-metre (5,200 ft) gravel runway with two services weekly to Alice Springs, and Royal Flying Doctor Service transport as required. It also has a community hall, women's centre, health clinic, football oval, basketball court and 25-metre indoor swimming pool. [7]

The first Indigenous-run police station in Western Australia is at Warakurna, set up some years ago and already showing some positive effects. Filmmaker Cornel Ozies, who made a documentary about the station, called Our Law and shown at the 2020 Sydney Film Festival, puts the success of the program down to four things: "respect, understanding, communication, and education". The two Noongar police officers learnt the local Ngaanyatjarra language and cultural protocols of the people. [8] [9]

Warakurna is also mentioned in the Midnight Oil song "Warakurna" in their No #1 hit album "Diesel and Dust".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunbarrel Highway</span> Track in Australia

The Gunbarrel Highway is an isolated desert track in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. It consists of about 1,350 km (840 mi) of washaways, heavy corrugations, stone, sand and flood plains. The Gunbarrel Highway connects Victory Downs in the Northern Territory to Carnegie Station in Western Australia. Some sources incorrectly show the highway extending west to Wiluna.

Warburton or Warburton Ranges is an Aboriginal Australian community in Western Australia, just to the south of the Gibson Desert and located on the Great Central Road and Gunbarrel Highway. At the 2016 census, Warburton had a population of 576.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku</span> Local government area in Western Australia

The Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku is a remote local government area in Western Australia near the Northern Territory/South Australian border. It is 1,542 km (958 mi) from Perth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Central Road</span> Track in Western Australia and the Northern Territory

The Great Central Road is a mostly unsealed Australian outback highway that runs 1,126 km (700 mi) from Laverton, Western Australia to Yulara, Northern Territory. It passes through a number of small communities on the way.

Ngaanyatjarra is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Wati languages of the large Pama–Nyungan family. It is one of the dialects of the Western Desert Language and is very similar to its close neighbour Ngaatjatjarra, with which it is highly mutually intelligible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngaanyatjarra</span> Indigenous people in Western Australia

The Ngaanyatjarra, also known as the Nana, are an Indigenous Australian cultural group of Western Australia. They are located in the Goldfields-Esperance region, as well as Northern Territory.

Ngaatjatjarra is an Australian Aboriginal dialect of the Western Desert language. It is spoken in the Western Desert cultural bloc which covers about 600 000 square kilometres of the arid central and central-western desert. It is very similar to its close neighbours Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Pintupi, with which it is highly mutually intelligible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara</span> Local government area in South Australia

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.

Kiwirrkurra, gazetted as Kiwirrkurra Community, is a small community in Western Australia in the Gibson Desert, 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) east of Port Hedland and 700 kilometres (430 mi) west of Alice Springs. It had a population of 165 in 2016, mostly Aboriginal Australians. It has been described as the most remote community in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giles Weather Station</span> Remote weather station in Western Australia

Giles Weather Station is located in Western Australia near the Northern Territory border, about 750 kilometres (470 mi) west-south-west of Alice Springs and 330 kilometres (210 mi) west of Uluru. It is the only staffed weather station within an area of about 2,500,000 square kilometres (970,000 sq mi) and is situated mid-continent and near the core of the subtropical jetstream. This means it plays an important role as a weather and climate observatory for the country, particularly eastern and southeastern Australia, and particularly for rainfall predictions. The station is on the Great Central Road and the nearest township is the Warakurna Aboriginal settlement, 5 kilometres (3 mi) North. Giles is within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku and is in the foothills of the Rawlinson Ranges.

Wingellina or Irrunytju Community is a small Indigenous Australian community in Western Australia located about 1,700 kilometres (1,056 mi) north east of Perth near the Western Australian-South Australian border in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia. The local language of Wingellina is Pitjantjatjara.

Papulankutja is a large Aboriginal community located in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku.

Tjukurla is an Aboriginal community, located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku.

Tjirrkarli is a medium-sized Aboriginal community, located in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku.

Mantamaru is a medium-sized Aboriginal community, located in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku.

Patjarr is a small Aboriginal community, located near the Clutterbuck Hills between Lake Cobb and Lake Newell, 243 kilometres by road north west of Warburton in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia.

Wanarn is a medium-sized Aboriginal community, located in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku.

The Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women's Council is a community-based community organisation formed in 1980 delivering services to the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara women in the central desert region of Australia across the borders of the Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia with its headquarters in Alice Springs. It provides a range of community, family, research and advocacy services.

The Ngaatjatjarra are an Indigenous Australian people of Western Australia, with communities located in the north eastern part of the Goldfields-Esperance region.

Tjapartji Kanytjuri Bates (c.1933–2015), also spelt Taparti, was an Australian Aboriginal artist based in Warakurna, Wanarn, and Warburton communities in the Gibson Desert. She was of the Ngaanyatjarra people. Known to be active from 1991, her work incorporates media of paint, canvas, glass and felt, and is particularly centred around interpretations of Tjukurrpa from her mother and father.

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Warakurna (urban centre and locality)". Australian Census 2016.  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. 1 2 3 "Climate statistics for Australian locations: Giles". Bureau of Meteorology . Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  3. ↑ Hema, Maps (2006). Australia’s Great Desert Tracks NC Sheet (Map). Eight Mile Plains Queensland: Hema Maps. ISBN   978-1-86500-163-0.
  4. 1 2 "Warakurna Campus". Ngaanyatjarra Lands School . Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Warakurna (L)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 27 July 2019. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  6. ↑ "Warakurna (Giles)". Planning Western Australia. Western Australian Planning Commission. 9 January 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "Warakurna". Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku . Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  8. ↑ Bracken, Claire (15 June 2020). "Our Law: Inside Western Australia's first Indigenous-run police station". triple j. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  9. ↑ "Our Law". Sydney Film Festival. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.