The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Springs ...

. They are closely related to the

Yankunytjatjara The Yankunytjatjara people, also written Yankuntjatjarra, Jangkundjara, and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. Language Yankunytjatjara is a Western Desert language belonging to the Wati la ...

and

Ngaanyatjarra The Ngaanyatjarra, also known (along with the Pini) 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. Language Ngaanyatjarra is ...

and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are varieties of the Western Desert language). They refer to themselves as

aṉangu 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 Nga ...

(people). The Pitjantjatjara live mostly in the northwest of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, extending across the border into the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

to just south of Lake Amadeus, and west a short distance into

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

. The land is an inseparable and important part of their identity, and every part of it is rich with stories and meaning to aṉangu. They have, for the most part, given up their nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle but have retained their language and much of their culture in synergy with increasing influences from the broader Australian community. Today there are still about 4,000 aṉangu 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 owner Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

Pronunciation

The ethnonym ''Pitjantjatjara'' is usually pronounced (in normal, fast speech) with elision of one of the repeated syllables ''-tja-'', thus: ''pitjantjara''. In more careful speech all syllables will be pronounced.

Etymology

The name ''Pitjantjatjara'' derives from the word ''pitjantja'', a nominalised form of the verb "go" (equivalent to the English "going" used as a noun). Combined with the

comitative In grammar, the comitative case (; abbreviated ) is a grammatical case that denotes accompaniment. In English, the preposition "with", in the sense of "in company with" or "together with", plays a substantially similar role (other uses of "with", ...

suffix ''-tjara'', it means something like "''pitjantja''-having" (i.e. the variety that uses the word ''pitjantja'' for "going"). This distinguishes it from its near neighbour Yankunytjatjara which has ''yankunytja'' for the same meaning. This naming strategy is also the source of the names of

and

Ngaatjatjarra The Ngaatjatjarra (otherwise spelt Ngadadjara) are an Indigenous Australian people of Western Australia, with communities located in the north eastern part of the Goldfields-Esperance region. Name The ethnonym Ngaatjatjarra, in line with a gene ...

but in that case the names contrast the two languages based on their words for "this" (respectively, ''ngaanya'' and ''ngaatja''). The two languages Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara may be grouped together under the name Nyangatjatjara (indicating that they have ''nyangatja'' for "this") which then contrasts them with

and

Language

Pitjantjatjara language Pitjantjatjara (; or ) is a dialect of the Western Desert language traditionally spoken by the Pitjantjatjara people of Central Australia. It is mutually intelligible with other varieties of the Western Desert language, and is particularly ...

is used as a general term for a number of closely related dialects which together, according to Ronald Trudinger were "spoken over a wider area of Australia than any other Aboriginal language". With

it shares an 80% overlap in vocabulary.

Some major communities

See WARU community directory for a complete list * in South Australia type 2 ** in the

Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara 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 aṉan ...

, including: ***

Ernabella Pukatja (formerly Ernabella) is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Pipalyatjara, Fregon/Kaltjiti, I ...

also called Pukatja ***

Amata According to Roman mythology, Amata (also called Palanto) was the wife of Latinus, king of the Latins, and the mother of their only child, Lavinia. In the Aeneid of Virgil, she commits suicide during the conflict between Aeneas and Turnus over ...

***

Kalka Kalka is a town in the Panchkula district of Haryana, India. It is near Panchkula city. The name of the town is derived from the Hindu goddess Kali. It is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas and is a gateway to the neighbouring state ...

*** Pipalyatjara ** Yalata ** Oak Valley * In the Northern Territory **

Docker River Kaltukatjara , also known as Docker River, is a remote Indigenous Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is southwest of Alice Springs, west of the Stuart Highway, near the Western Australia and Northern Territory bord ...

** Areyonga ** Mutitjulu * In Western Australia ** Wingellina also called Irruntju

History

A tract of land was established in the north west of

for the Pitjantjatjara in 1921 after they lost much land due to hostile encroachment by hunters and ranchers. Extended droughts in the 1920s and between 1956 and 1965 in their traditional lands in the Great Victoria and

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gibso ...

deserts led many Pitjantjatjara, and their traditionally more westerly relations, the

, to move east towards the railway between

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

and

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

in search of food and water, thus mixing with the most easterly of the three, the

. They refer to themselves as ''

'', which originally just meant people in general, but has now come to imply an Aboriginal person or, more specifically, a member of one of the groups that speaks a variety of the Western Desert Language. In response to continuing outside pressures on the aṉangu, the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

gave its support to a plan by the

Presbyterian Church of Australia The Presbyterian Church of Australia (PCA) is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Australia. (The larger Uniting Church in Australia incorporated about two-thirds of the PCA in 1977.) History Beginnings When captain James Cook lande ...

to set up the

Mission in the

Musgrave Ranges Musgrave Ranges is a mountain range in Central Australia, straddling the boundary of South Australia ( Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) and the Northern Territory ( MacDonnell Shire), extending into Western Australia. It is between the Gre ...

as a safe haven. This mission, largely due to the actions of their advocate,

Charles Duguid use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kent Town, Adelaide , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = ...

, was ahead of the times in that there was no systematic attempt to destroy Aboriginal culture, as was common on many other missions. From 1950 onwards, many aṉangu were forced to leave their traditional lands due to

British nuclear tests at Maralinga Between 1956 and 1963, the United Kingdom conducted seven nuclear tests at the Maralinga site in South Australia, part of the Woomera Prohibited Area about north west of Adelaide. Two major test series were conducted: Operation Buffalo in 1 ...

. Some aṉangu were subsequently contaminated by the

nuclear fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioa ...

from the

atomic test Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...

s, and many have died as a consequence. Their experience of issues of

land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land u ...

and

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, t ...

in South Australia has been unique. After four years of campaigning and negotiations with government and mining groups, the '' Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1981'' was passed on 19 March 1981, granting freehold title over of land in the northwestern corner of South Australia. The ''

Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act 1984 The Maralinga Tjarutja, or Maralinga Tjarutja Council, is the corporation representing the traditional Anangu owners of the remote western areas of South Australia known as the Maralinga Tjarutja lands. The council was established by the ''Mara ...

'' (SA) granted freehold title of an area of to

Maralinga Tjarutja The Maralinga Tjarutja, or Maralinga Tjarutja Council, is the corporation representing the traditional Anangu owners of the remote western areas of South Australia known as the Maralinga Tjarutja lands. The council was established by the ''Mara ...

. The subsequently named Mamungari Conservation Park) with was transferred to the Maralinga Tjarutja in 2004.

Recognition of sacred sites

The sacred sites of Uluru / Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuṯa / Mount Olga possess important spiritual and ceremonial significance for the ''Anangu'' with more than 40 named sacred sites and 11 separate

Tjukurpa The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his co ...

(or "Dreaming") tracks in the area, some of which lead as far as the sea. Uluru / Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga are separated from the Pitjantjatjara lands by the border between the

and South Australia and have become a major tourist attraction and a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

. The

Central Land Council The Central Land Council (CLC) is a land council that represents the Aboriginal peoples of the southern half of the Northern Territory of Australia (NT), predominantly with regard to land issues. it is one of four land councils in the Northern ...

laid claim to the

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The park is home to both Uluru and Kata Tjuta. It is located south of Darwin by road and south-west of Alice Springs along the Stuart and Lasseter H ...

and some adjoining vacant Crown land in 1979, but this claim was challenged by the

Northern Territory Government The Government of the Northern Territory of Australia, also referred to as the Northern Territory Government, is the Australian territorial democratic administrative authority of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory wa ...

. After years of intensive lobbying by the land council, on 11 November 1983 the prime minister, Bob Hawke, announced that the federal government intended to transfer inalienable freehold title to them. He agreed to ten main points they had demanded in exchange for a lease-back arrangement to the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service in a "joint-management" régime where ''Anangu'' would have a majority on the board of management. This was implemented in 1985, after further negotiations extended the lease period from 50 to 99 years and agreement was reached on the retention of tourists' access to Uluru / Ayers Rock. The Arrernte land is Aboriginal land in central Australia. It is controlled by the Arrernte Council which in turn is controlled by the Central Land Council from

Notable people

Gordon Briscoe Gordon Briscoe AO (born 1938) is an Aboriginal Australian academic and activist. In 1997, he became the first Indigenous person to be awarded a PhD from an Australian University. He is also a former soccer player. Early life Born in Alice ...

, an association football player *

Ian Abdulla Ian Abdulla (1947–2011) was an Aboriginal Australian contemporary artist. A Ngarrindjeri man who grew up on the banks of the Murray in South Australia, he has been called Australia's greatest naive artist. Early life Abdulla was born in 1 ...

, an award-winning author, and artist * Trevor Adamson, a country/gospel singer *

Anmanari Brown Anmanari Brown is an Australian Aboriginal artist. She was one of the pioneers of the art movement across the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara lands, which began in 2000. Since then, her paintings have gained much success. Her w ...

, pioneering artist * Hector Burton, an artist * Wawiriya Burton, an artist, known for acrylic works *

Angkaliya Curtis Angkaliya Curtis (born 1928) is an Australian Aboriginal artist. She paints animals from the central Australian desert. Early life Curtis was born around 1928, at a place called Miti, in north-western South Australia. Her family are Pitjantjatj ...

, an artist * Malpiya Davey, also known as Irpintiri Davey, an artist, known for ceramic artworks * Jimmy James OAM, a tracker * Rene Kulitja, an artist, a famous design is Yananyi Dreaming, which covers a Qantas Boeing 737 * David Miller, an artist * Dickie Minyintiri, an award-winning artist, and sacred lawman * Tiger Palpatja, an artist * Walter Pukutiwara, an artist * Kunmanara Stewart, an artist * Tjunkaya Tapaya, a batik artist * Malya Teamay, an Aboriginal Australian artist, and Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park management board member *

Wingu Tingima Wingu Tingima (died 8 March 2010) was an Aboriginal artist from central Australia. She was born in Great Victoria Desert, and grew up living a traditional way of life in the bush, without any contact with Western civilization. A member of the P ...

, an artist * Tony Tjamiwa, also known as Tony Curtis, a traditional healer and storyteller * Harry Tjutjuna, an artist * Yannima Tommy Watson, known as Tommy Watson, an artist *

Ginger Wikilyiri Ginger Nobby Wikilyiri is an Australian Aboriginal artist from Nyapaṟi, South Australia. Life Wikilyiri was born around 1932, in the desert of north-western South Australia. The place where he was born is Kunamata, a rock hole south of what ...

, an artist * Ruby Williamson, an artist, known for acrylic works *

Bart Willoughby Bart Willoughby (born 12 September 1960) is an Indigenous Australian musician, noted for his pioneering fusion of reggae with Indigenous Australian musical influences, and for his contribution to growth of Indigenous music in Australia. A Pitj ...

, a musician, noted for his pioneering fusion of reggae *

Frank Yamma Frank Yamma is a singer and songwriter from Central Australia. He is a Pitjantjatjara man who speaks five languages and sings in both Pitjantjatjara and English. Yamma is the son of Issac Yamma, an early artist who pioneered singing Western sty ...

, an early proponent of singing Western style songs in traditional language *

Isaac Yamma Isaac Yamma (or Yama) (1940 – January 1990) was a country singer from Central Australia. He was a Pitjantjatjara man who was born by a waterhole near Docker River (Kaltukatjara Kaltukatjara , also known as Docker River, is a remote Indige ...

, a country singer *

Harold Allison Harold Allison (born 10 July 1930) was an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seats of Mount Gambier from 1975 to 1993 and Gordon from 1993 to 1997 for the Liberal Party. References ...

, initiated as a member of the Pitjantjatjara shortly after becoming Minister of Aboriginal Affairs

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * (reprint) * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Ngapartji
Online course of Pitjantjatjara language, and related performance event
Web portal for Anangu Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra peoples, communities and organisations

Yalata Land Management

Pitjantjatjara entry in the AusAnthrop database

Pitjantjatjara People at ''Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements'' (ATNS)
{{Authority control Native title in Australia