Pitjantjatjara

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Pitjantjatjara is the name of both an Aboriginal people (or Anangu) of the Central Australian desert and their language. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjara, and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually understandable.

The cultural influence of Anangu extends from the northern edge of the Nullarbor Plain to Lake Amadeus and Balgo in the north and eastwards from Kalgoorlie, Laverton and Leonora in Western Australia as far west as Oodnadatta in South Australia - an area of more than 500,000 square kilometres. The land is an inseperable and important part of their being, and every part of it is rich with stories and meaning to Anangu.

They have, for the most part, now given up their nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle but have managed to retain their languages and much of their culture in spite of increasing influences from the broader Australian community.

Today there are still about 4,000 Anangu living scattered in small communities and outstations across their traditional lands, forming one of the most successful joint land arrangements in Australia with Aboriginal Traditional Owners.

Contents

Some major communities

See WARU community directory for a complete list

History

After many horrific and often fatal encounters with European dingo hunters and settlers, 73,000 square kilometres of land was established in the north west of South Australia for their use in 1921.

During extended droughts in the 1920s and between 1956 to 1965 in their homelands in the Great Victoria and Gibson Deserts led many Pitjantjatjara, and their traditionaly more westerly relations, the Ngaanyatjara, to move east towards the railway between Adelaide and Alice Springs in search of food and water, thus mixing with the most westerly of the three tribes, the Yankunytjatjara. They refer to themselves as Anangu, which originally just meant people in general, but has now come to imply an Aboriginal person or, more specifically, a member of one of a number of central desert groups.

However, European depredations continued and Dr. Charles Duguid tirelessly fought for their protection, wellbeing and a chance to gradually accustom themselves to their rapidly-changing circumstances. In response, the South Australian Government finally supported a plan by the then Presbyterian Church to set up the Ernabella Mission in the Musgrave Ranges as a safe haven. This mission, largely due to the insistence of Dr. Duguid himself, was ahead of the times in that there was no sytematic attempt to destroy Aboriginal culture, as was common on many other missions.

Unfortunately, beginning in 1950, many Anangu were forced to leave their homelands in and around Maralinga, which became the site for rocket and atomic bomb tests. A large number of Anangu were subsequently contaminated by the nuclear fallout from the atomic tests, and many have died as a consequence.

Their experience of issues of land rights and native title in South Australia have been unique. After four years of campaigning and negotiations with government and mining groups, the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act was passed on 19 March 1981, granting freehold title over 103,000 square kilometres of land in the far northwestern corner of South Australia.

The Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act, 1984 (SA) (the Act) granted freehold title of an area of 80,764 square kilometres to Maralinga Tjarutja. The Unnamed Conservation Park was transferred to the Maralinga Tjarutja in 2004.

Recognition of sacred sites

The sacred sites of Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) were extremely important spiritually and cermonially to the Anangu with more than forty named sacred sites and eleven separate Tjurkurpa (or 'Dreaming') tracks in the area. Some of these dreaming tracks led as far as the sea in all directions. Unfortunately, Uluru and Kata Tjuta were just over the border in the Northern Territory and separated from the Pitjantjatjara Lands in South Australia and had become a major tourist attraction and, ultimately, a National Park. The Central Land Council laid claim to the Ayers-Rock-Mt. Olga National Park and some adjoining vacant Crown land in 1979, but this claim was fiercely resisted by the Northern Territory government.

After eight years of intensive lobbying by the Traditional Owners, on 11 November 1983, Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced that the Federal Government intended to transfer inalienable freehold title to them. He also agreed to ten main points they had demanded in exchange for a lease-back arrangement to the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service for a "joint-management" régime where Anangu would have a majority on the Board of Management. This was finally granted in 1985, but with the government reneging on two of the most important points the Anangu had requested: they were forced to agree to lease the Park for 99 years, instead of the fifty years originally agreed on, perhaps more importantly, they had to allow tourists to climb Uluru, thus continuing the desecration of one of their main dreaming tracks.

Park Management has erected signs asking vistiors not to climb the "Rock," but have no authority to enforce it, and thousands of tourists every year continue to ignore this simple request, thereby deeply offending and saddening the Traditional Owners.

However, joint management of the 13.25 square kilometre World Heritage listed National Park has certainly been of benefit to Anangu, the Government and the millions of visitors who continue to be awed by the unique beauty and interest of the Park.

References

  • Duguid, Charles. 1972. Doctor and the Aborigines. Rigby. ISBN 0-85179-411-4.
  • Glass, Amee and Hackett, Dorothy. 1979. Ngaanyatjarra texts. New Revised edition of Pitjantjatjara texts (1969). Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. ISBN 0-391-016830.
  • Goddard, Cliff. 1996. Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara to English Dictionary. IAD Press, Alice Springs. ISBN 0-949659-91-6.
  • Hilliard, Winifred. M. 1968. The People in Between: The Pitjantjatjara People of Ernabella. Reprint: Seal Books, 1976. ISBN 0727001590.
  • Isaacs, Jennifer. 1992. Desert Crafts: Anangu Maruku Punu. Doubleday. ISBN 0-86824-474-0.
  • Kavanagh, Maggie. 1990. Minyma Tjuta Tjunguringkula Kunpuringanyi: Women Growing Strong Together. Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara Women's Council 1980-1990. ISBN 0-646-02068-4.
  • Tame, Adrian & Robotham, F.P.J. 1982. MARALINGA: British A-Bomb Australian Legacy. Fontana / Collins, Melbourne. ISBN 0-00-636-391-1.
  • Toyne, Phillip and Vachon, Daniel. 1984. Growing Up the Country: The Pitjantjatjara struggle for their land. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-007641-7.
  • Wallace, Phil and Noel. 1977. Killing Me Softly: The Destruction of a Heritage. Thomas Nelson, Melbourne. ISBN 0-17-005153-6.
  • Woenne-Green, Susan; Johnston, Ross; Sultan, Ros & Wallis, Arnold. 1993. Competing Interests: Aboriginal Participation in National Parks and Conservation Reserves in Australia - A Review. Australian Conservation Foundation. Fitzroy, Victoria. ISBN 0-85802-113-7.

External links

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