Yuelamu, also known as Mount Allan, Mount Allen, Alpirakina, and Alpirakinga, is a small town in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, Australia, located north-west of

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

, Its

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

is . Yuelamu had a population of 149 at the . It falls within the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the Central Desert Regional Council, the governing

land council Land councils, also known as Aboriginal land councils, or land and sea councils, are Australian community organisations, generally organised by region, that are commonly formed to represent the Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australians ...

is 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 ...

, and it lies in the Gwoja electoral division of the Northern Territory. The land is owned and managed by the Yalpirakinu Aboriginal

Land Trust Land trusts are nonprofit organizations which own and manage land, and sometimes waters. There are three common types of land trust, distinguished from one another by the ways in which they are legally structured and by the purposes for which th ...

, on land south of Mount Denison station. It lies on land which was formerly Mount Allan station, also spelt Mount Allen station, which was carved out of the traditional lands of the

Anmatyerre The Anmatyerr (also spelt Anmatyerre, Anmatjera, Anmatjirra, Amatjere and other variations) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, who speak one of the Upper Arrernte languages. Language Anmatyerr is divided into Eas ...

and

Warlpiri people The Warlpiri, sometimes referred to as Yapa, are a group of Aboriginal Australians defined by their Warlpiri language, although not all still speak it. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered th ...

s. Today, most of the population is of these two nations, and they still speak their languages at home. The Yuelamu Art Gallery and Museum was officially opened by Hazel Hawke on 16 April 1988. There is an airstrip close by, from which there are flights to and from Alice Springs. Access by road is via the Tanami Highway, with the turnoff about past Tilmouth Well, with this last stretch being a

dirt road A dirt road or track is a type of unpaved road not paved with asphalt, concrete, brick, or stone; made from the native material of the land surface through which it passes, known to highway engineers as subgrade material. Terminology Simi ...

of . Mount Allan School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

government-run school, serving the years from prep/reception through to Year 12. There is also an early childhood centre, a clinic, a store, an aged care centre and a night patrol.

References

Further reading