Ali Curung ( Kaytetye: Alekarenge; formerly Warrabri) is an Indigenous Australian community in the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory. The community is located 170 km (106 mi) south of Tennant Creek, and 378 km (235 mi) north of Alice Springs. At the 2016 census, the community had a population of 494.

History

The community was established as an Aboriginal reserve under the '' Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910'' in 1956 by the Welfare Branch of the

Northern Territory Administration The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

when the water supply at the Phillip Creek settlement north of Tennant Creek was exhausted. Two bores were drilled during 1954, buildings were constructed during 1955, and the residents of Phillip Creek were transported to Warrabri in mid 1956. The settlement was officially opened on 23 September 1958. It was managed by a superintendent and other non-Indigenous staff. Accommodation for the white staff consisted of Riley Newsum buildings, Bellevue pre-cut houses and

Nissen huts A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure for military use, especially as barracks, made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. Designed during the First World War by the American-born, Canadian-British engineer and inventor Majo ...

. Administrative functions were housed in Nissen and Romney huts. Aboriginal residents initially built shacks from corrugated iron and bush timber. By 1958, some brick houses and some aluminium houses had been constructed. The settlement also had an electricity generator, airstrip, garage, and general and agricultural stores; vegetable garden and yards for pigs, goats and poultry; a school, an

infirmary Infirmary may refer to: *Historically, a hospital, especially a small hospital *A first aid room in a school, prison, or other institution *A dispensary (an office that dispenses medications) *A clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambu ...

, a recreation hut, and a dining room where meals were provided.

Name

The settlement was originally named Warrabri, formed from the names of the two main groups of Aboriginal people who were moved there: Warumungu (then spelt Warramunga) and

Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...

(then spelt Wailbri). After the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 was passed, and Aboriginal reserves became Aboriginal land, the name was changed to Ali Curung, based on the name of sites within 6 km north of the community related to the Dog (or Dingo) Dreaming, called Alekarenge ("dog/dingo-associated") in the language of the traditional owners of the area, the Kaytetye people and in

Alyawarr The Alyawarre, also spelt Alyawarr and also known as the Iliaura, are an Aboriginal Australian people, or language group, from the Northern Territory. The Alyawarre are made up of roughly 1,200 associated peoples and actively engage in local tra ...

Geography

The climate of Ali Curung is arid, and the country around Ali Curung is dry for most of the year, with no surface water in creeks or waterholes. Water was traditionally obtained by digging at soakages. The landscape is characterised by red sand plains and low ridges, with extensive areas of open spinifex grassland. There are areas of scattered bloodwood (''

Corymbia opaca ''Corymbia opaca'', also known as the desert bloodwood, is a species of tree that is endemic to northern Australia. It has rough bark on part or all of the trunk, lance-shaped leaves, club-shaped flower buds and urn-shaped fruit. Several parts of ...

'') and dogwood (''

Acacia sericophylla ''Acacia sericophylla'' is a shrub or tree commonly known as the desert dogwood, desert oak or cork-bark wattle. To the Indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara, the Nyangumarta peoples, it is known as Pirrkala. The species is of the genus '' ...

'') trees, and shrublands and low woodlands of red-bud mallee shrub (''

Eucalyptus pachyphylla ''Eucalyptus pachyphylla'', commonly known as thick-leaved mallee or the red-budded mallee, is a species of mallee that is native to inland Australia. It has smooth bark, egg-shaped to lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three ...

''), mulga (''

Acacia aneura ''Acacia aneura'', commonly known as mulga or true mulga, is a shrub or small tree native to arid outback areas of Australia. It is the dominant tree in the habitat to which it gives its name ( mulga) that occurs across much of inland Australia. ...

'') and witchetty bush ('' Acacia kempeana''), with some desert white gums (''

Corymbia aparrerinja ''Corymbia aparrerinja'', commonly known as ghost gum, is a species of tree that is endemic to Central Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three or seven, white flowers and cup-shaped to c ...

''), smooth-barked coolibah (''

Eucalyptus victrix ''Eucalyptus victrix'', commonly known as the smooth-barked coolibah, western coolibah or little ghost gum, is a species of small tree that is endemic to Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups o ...

'') and ''

Hakea chordophylla ''Hakea chordophylla'', commonly known as bootlace oak, bootlace tree, corkwood, or bull oak, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Proteaceae found in central and northern Australia. Bares very showy golden yellow, pale green or cr ...

'' north of Ali Curung.

Population and languages

By 1958, two years after its establishment, the maximum number of Aboriginal residents was 367 (in January–February), while the minimum number was 258 (in July). There were thirteen non-Indigenous staff employed there. The population in 1965 was 590; by around 1980, it had increased to about 790-830. Of those, about 70-80 (as of 1976-1977) were non-Indigenous. The Aboriginal population in the late 1970s comprised 35% Warlpiri, 20% Warumungu and

Warlmanpa The Warlmanpa are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. Name and people The Warlmanpa were long missing from the map of Australian aborigines, – there is no direct mention of them in Norman Tindale's survey of Australian tri ...

, 30-35% Alyawarra and 10-15% Kaytetye. Warlpiri and Warumungu people tend to live in the west side of the community, and Alyawarra and Kaytetye to the east, orientating themselves in relation to their traditional country. At the 2016 census, the community had a population of 494, of whom 86.2% were Indigenous Australians (85.6% Australian Aboriginal, 0.6% Torres Strait Islander). 25.3% of people reported speaking only English at home; 24.1% reported speaking Warlpiri at home, 13.6% spoke Alyawarr, while speakers of both Kaytetye and Pitjantjatjara numbered 1%, and 0.6% spoke Warumungu at home.

Governance

When first established, the settlement was managed by a superintendent, and the Aboriginal residents were wards of the Chief Protector of Aborigines under the '' Aboriginals Ordinance 1918''. The Aboriginal Land Rights Commission report of 1974 recommended that land in Aboriginal reserves pass to Aboriginal ownership, which occurred with the enactment of the

Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act The ''Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976'' (ALRA) is Australian federal government legislation that provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on tradit ...

in January 1977. Title to the Warrabri reserve, along with other NT Aboriginal reserves, was handed to Aboriginal land trusts by the then Minister for Aboriginal Affairs,

Ian Viner Robert Ian Viner AO (born 21 January 1933) is an Australian solicitor and barrister,Amoonguna on 4 September 1978. A council had existed at Warrabri prior to 1977, with Aboriginal membership, largely from the west side groups in the community. From 1977, following a directive of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, elections were held for a council which was more representative of local groups. The Ali Curung Community Government Council continued to operate until the 2008 reform of local government areas by the Northern Territory Government, when Ali Curung became part of the Alyawarr ward of the Barkly Shire (from 2014, the Barkly Regional Council). In 2007, Ali Curung became a "prescribed community" under the

Northern Territory National Emergency Response The Northern Territory National Emergency Response, also known as "The Intervention" or the Northern Territory Intervention, and sometimes the abbreviation "NTER" (for Northern Territory Emergency Response) was a package of measures enforced by ...

; among other impacts, the Australian federal government compulsorily acquired a five-year lease over Ali Curung, a Government Business Manager was installed, and residents receiving social security payments were placed on an income management system under which fifty per cent of their payments were "quarantined", and could only be spent on "priority needs".

Economy

During the period when it was managed by the Welfare Branch, some Aboriginal people living at Warrabri, as it was then, were employed outside the settlement in the pastoral and droving industries. Others worked in the routine jobs in the settlement. At the time of the 2016 census, in a population of 494, 76 people reported being in the paid work force, of whom 28.9% were unemployed, 21.1% worked part-time, and 42.1% were employed full-time.

Education

The Warrabri School opened on 9 May 1956. A manual training centre for senior school students and young people over school age was established in 1959, providing training in domestic science for girls and woodwork, leatherwork and blacksmithing for boys. As of 2019, Alekarenge School provides education from preschool to middle school.

Recreation and culture

The Ali Curung football team, the Kangaroos, have been members of the Barkly Australian Football League since its founding in 1991. Culture festivals have been held in Ali Curung at various times, including the Pulapa Wirri ("big dance") in 1975 and 1976. The Ali Curung Dance Festival has been held annually during NAIDOC Week celebrations since at least 2010. Bands which have originated in or have members from Ali Curung include the Ali-Curung Sundowners, led by Gus Williams; the Warrabri Blue Grass Group; the Ali-Curung Spinifex Band, and Band Nomadic. An arts centre, the Arlpwe Arts Centre and Gallery, owned by the Arlpwe Artists Aboriginal Corporation, started in 2008. The name relates to the landscape around Ali Curung, "no waterhole, no rivers, only soakage and grass country" from the Kaytetye country name ''Arlpawe'' and common noun ''arlpawe'' 'wide open space, clearing, flat country with no watercourses or hills'. A ninety minute film titled '' Kain'', based on the story of

Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain ''Qayīn'', in pausa ''Qāyīn''; gr, Κάϊν ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl / Qāyīn and Abel ''Heḇel'', in pausa ''Hāḇel''; gr, Ἅβελ ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hāb� ...

, was filmed partly at Warrabri by the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and BBC, and broadcast on the ABC in 1967. It starred Keith Michell,

J. G. Devlin James Gerard Devlin (8 October 1907 – 17 October 1991) was a Northern Irish actor who made his stage debut in 1931, and had long association with the Ulster Group Theatre. In a career spanning nearly sixty years, he played parts in TV pro ...

and Candy Devine, with Teddy Plummer, Michael Williams and other Ali Curung locals. No alcohol has ever been available or permitted at Ali Curung; the nearest liquor outlet is at Wycliffe Well roadhouse on the Stuart Highway.

Notable people

In 1970, Teddy Plummer (Warumungu), a foundation member of the Warrabri Cooperative, a member of the Warrabri Field Council, and later a president of Ali Curung Council, was awarded a

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...

for services to the community. A road in Ali Curung is named Plummer Crescent in his honour. Other past presidents of the Ali Curung Council, after whom streets in Ali Curung are named, include Billy Foster (Warumungu), Jack Jackson (Warlpiri) and Jimmy Newcastle (Warlmanpa/ Mudburra). Roads are also named after George Brown (Warumungu/Warlpiri), the first Aboriginal police aide in Ali Curung; Tommy and Charlie Driver (Warlpiri), who were influential in the establishment of Warrabri; and Pete Peterson (Alyawarr), who helped keep harmony in Warrabri. Country musician Gus Williams, from

Ntaria Hermannsburg, also known as Ntaria, is an Aboriginal community in Ljirapinta Ward of the MacDonnell Shire in the Northern Territory of Australia, ; west southwest of Alice Springs, on the Finke River, in the traditional lands of the Western ...

, lived in Warrabri from 1976 to the early 1980s. Long Pwerle, land rights activist and chairman of the Central Land Council from 1988-1992, died at his home in Ali Curung in 1992. In ''Daughters of the Dreaming'', anthropologist Diane Bell wrote about many senior women in Ali Curung in the late 1970s who had knowledge and authority in ritual, kinship, ancestral landscapes and natural resources, referring to them by

skin name Aboriginal Australian kinship comprises the systems of Aboriginal customary law governing social interaction relating to kinship in traditional Aboriginal cultures. It is an integral part of the culture of every Aboriginal group across Aust ...

s rather than personal names.

References

External links

Photos of Ali Curung on PictureNT, ''Territory Stories''
{{authority control Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory Former local government areas of the Northern Territory Populated places in the Northern Territory