The Arrernte () people, sometimes referred to as the Aranda, Arunta or Arrarnta, are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the Arrernte lands, at ''Mparntwe'' (

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 ...

) and surrounding areas of the

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and ...

region of 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 ...

. Many still speak one of the various Arrernte dialects. Some Arrernte live in other areas far from their homeland, including the major Australian cities and overseas. Arrernte spirituality focuses on the landscape and

The Dreaming 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 mythology. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by hi ...

which the Arrernte name for is Altyerre.

Altjira 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 religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...

is the creator being of the Inapertwa that became all living creatures. Tjurunga are objects of religious significance. The Arrernte Council is the representative and administrative body for the Arrernte Lands and is part of 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 ...

. Tourism is important to the economy of Alice Springs and surrounding communities.

Arrernte languages

"Aranda" is a simplified,

Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...

approximation of the traditional pronunciation of the name of ''Arrernte'' . The ancestors of the Arrernte all spoke one or more of the many Arrernte dialects in the Arrernte group of languages. Today several are completely or nearly extinct, but some (especially Eastern or Central Arrernte) are widely spoken and taught in schools. The Arrernte also had a highly developed

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...

Culture

Arrernte religion and cultural life were documented thoroughly from the late nineteenth century by the Lutheran missionary Carl Strehlow, the seminal Australian anthropologists

Walter Baldwin Spencer Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer (23 June 1860 – 14 July 1929), commonly referred to as Sir Baldwin Spencer, was a British-Australian Evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, anthropology, anthropologist and Ethnology, ethnologist. He is k ...

and Francis Gillen and later by T. G. H. Strehlow. The Arrernte men worked with Strehlow to document their songs and ceremonies between 1932 and 1974. Arrernte oral history discusses the region of Alice Springs (''Mparntwe'') and its environs being shaped by primordial

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

-beings known as ''Ayepe-arenye'' (''

Hyles livornicoides The Australian striped hawk moth (''Hyles livornicoides)'' is a moth of the family Sphingidae first described by the Scottish-born Australian medical practitioner, naturalist, author, philosopher and utopianist; Thomas Pennington Lucas in 1892.� ...

''), ''Ntyarlke'' (''

Hippotion celerio ''Hippotion celerio'', the vine hawk-moth or silver-striped hawk-moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 Lepidoptera in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Dis ...

''), and ''Utnerrengatye'' (''

Coenotes eremophilae ''Coenotes'' is a genus of moths in the family Sphingidae. The genus was erected by Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan (zoologist, born 1861), Karl Jordan in 1903. Species *''Coenotes eremophilae'' (Lucas ...

'') which were ancestral to the Arrernte people. The eastern

MacDonnell Ranges The MacDonnell Ranges, or Tjoritja in Arrernte language, Arrernte, is a mountain range located in southern Northern Territory. MacDonnell Ranges is also the name given to an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australia ...

was formed by the ''Ayepe-arenye'', while the western portion of the ranges was formed by ''Ntyarlke''.

Country

The Arrernte's lands, according to

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...

's estimate, encompass some . Of their overall territory he wrote that they were:

At Mount Gosse, Mount Zeil, and Mount Heughlin; on the Finke River to Idracowra, Blood Creek, Macumba, Mount Dare, and Andado, and some distance east into the sandhills of the Arunta (Simpson) Desert; northeast to Intea on the lower Hale River, thence north to Ilbala on Plenty River; west to Inilja and Hart Range, Mount Swan, Gillen Creek, Connor Well, and Narwietooma; in Central MacDonnell, James, and Ooraminna Ranges.

Sub-divisions

The name Arrernte refers to the following distinct groups (or "mobs"): *

Central Arrernte Arrernte or Aranda (; ), or sometimes referred to as Upper Arrernte (Upper Aranda), is a dialect cluster in the Arandic language group spoken in parts of the Northern Territory, Australia, by the Arrernte people. Other spelling variations are ...

, from the township of

and its immediate surrounds. *

Eastern Arrernte Arrernte or Aranda (; ), or sometimes referred to as Upper Arrernte (Upper Aranda), is a dialect cluster in the Arandic language group spoken in parts of the Northern Territory, Australia, by the Arrernte people. Other spelling variations are ...

, from the Arrernte lands east of Alice Springs. * Western Arrarnta, from the Arrernte lands west of Alice Springs, out to Mutitjulu and King's Canyon.

Notes

Explanatory notes

Citations

General and cited sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Arrernte Tribal Group
{{Authority control Indigenous peoples of Australia Arrernte people