Watarru Community is an

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

community 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 ...

(APY) lands in

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 ...

(one of a number of communities or

homelands Homelands may refer to: * Homeland, native lands * Homelands (festival), British dance music festival. * Homelands (Fables), mythical lands in the comic book series Fables. * Homelands (Magic: The Gathering), MTG expansion set. * Bantustan, part ...

on "The Lands"; others include

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 ...

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 ...

Pukatja 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, ...

Fregon Kaltjiti, formerly and also still known as Fregon, is an Aboriginal community in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY lands) in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Ernabella ...

Kaltjiti Kaltjiti, formerly and also still known as Fregon, is an Aboriginal community in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY lands) in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Ernabella ...

Indulkana Indulkana (also known as Iwantja, from Iwantja Creek) 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 Ernabella/Puka ...

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 ...

and

Mimili Mimili 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, Pukatja, Kaltjiti, Indulkana and Pipalyatjara). At ...

). Watarru Community sits at the foot of Mount Lindsay and the community has at times been known as "Mount Lindsay".

Time zone

Due to its links with 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 ...

and proximity to the border, the

APY Lands 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 ...

do not observe daylight savings unlike the rest of South Australia. The time zone observed throughout the year is Australian Central Standard Time ( UTC+9:30), in line with

Darwin Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...

rather than

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 ...

Geography

Watarru Community is situated approximately 550 kilometres south-west of

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 ...

. Watarru is situated at the foot of Mount Lindsay, in the

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross th ...

. Watarru Community is situated within the Watarru Indigenous Protected Area, which as of June 2001 was the largest sized Declared Indigenous Protected Area (12,800 km², declared 1 September 2000).

Climate

Based upon the climate records of the nearest weather station, at Giles across the border and to the northwest in

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 ...

, Watarru experiences summer maximum temperatures of an average of 37.2 degrees Celsius in January and a winter maximum average temperature of 19.9 degrees Celsius in July. Overnight lows range from a mean minimum temperature of 23.5 degrees in January to 6.8 degrees in June. Annual rainfall averages 284.2 millimetres.

Population

Watarru Community's population was 56 people according to the 2001

Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, with 82.1% of those being

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...

. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001 Census
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
/ref> The power station was constructed to cater for a fluctuating population of between 30 and 90 people. The residents are mainly Anangu people.

History

PY Media website waru.org reports:

The Community began to flourish in the early 1990s, after being established by a small family group of Anangu who had returned from other established Communities.waru.org: Watarru
/ref>

Facilities

PY Media website "waru.urg" states:

The local store is provided with fresh produce by road train once a week, a local workshop provides limited services, but only diesel and avgas fuels are available. Persons with petrol driven vehicles are advised to check with their mechanic regarding the use of Avgas in their vehicle. There is a weekly mail delivery by air from Alice Springs on friday; general freight is delivered weekly by road train.

Since the introduction of non-sniffable fuel throughout central Australia, Watarru has stocks of suitable unleaded fuel for cars.

Avgas Avgas (aviation gasoline, also known as aviation spirit in the UK) is an aviation fuel used in aircraft with spark-ignited internal combustion engines. ''Avgas'' is distinguished from conventional gasoline (petrol) used in motor vehicles, w ...

is no longer available. Watarru has a community office for administration purposes, which also provides an Internet service and a place for co-ordinating the local arts project. Management of the land provides employment opportunities for the Watarru community, managing and monitoring native fauna populations whilst also rounding up, shooting or culling pest species such as camels, foxes and feral cats. The Watarru Anangu school was opened in 1986 and has approximately 25 students. Watarru no longer has an operational medical clinic and does not have a permanent police presence.

South Australian 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 ...

police are based at Marla and run patrols in the area. The community has no Indigenous community constables. Electricity is provided to the community using a combination of

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...

and a

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. W ...

, with the energy stored in batteries.Appropriate Energy web page for Watarru
/ref> Power is also generated by two diesel generators. As with most APY settlements,

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

and

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...

television are available. Watarru also receives the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australi ...

affiliated station

Golden West Network GWN7 was an Australian television network serving all of Western Australia outside metropolitan Perth. It launched on 10 March 1967 as ''BTW-3'' in Bunbury. It was an affiliate of the Seven Network and served one of the largest geographic tel ...

from

, as well as

Imparja Imparja Television (IMP) is an independent Australian television station servicing over , across six states and territories: Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. It is based in Alice Sprin ...

television. Subscription television service

Austar Austar was an Australian telecommunications company. Its main business activity was subscription television but it has also been involved with internet access and mobile phones. It was founded in 1995 under the name Community Entertainment Telev ...

is also available to residents. Residents can vote in elections for the

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly (lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council ( upper house). General elections are ...

at a booth that visits Pipalyatjara. A permit is required for a member of the public to visit any community on the APY lands, as they are

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

lands owned by the

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. Entry to any APY community without a permit is an offence, and harsh penalties apply.

Footnotes

External links

* * {{authority control Towns in South Australia Aboriginal communities in South Australia Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara