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 ( 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 ...

) 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 i ...

region of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. 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 mythology and 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 beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his co ...

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 beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his c ...

is the creator being of the

Inapertwa In Aboriginal mythology (specifically: Arrernte), the Inapertwa are the simple, ancestral creatures with which the Numakulla modelled all life (plant, animals, birds) on Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astr ...

that became all living creatures.

Tjurunga A Tjurunga, also spelt Churinga and Tjuringa, is an object considered to be of religious significance by Central Australian Aboriginal people of the Arrernte (Aranda, Arunta) groups. Tjurunga often had a wide and indeterminate native significa ...

are objects of religious significance. The

Arrernte Council Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Australia ...

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 Te ...

. 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 varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...

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 a couple of them (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 markers. Sign l ...

Culture

Arrernte religion and cultural life was documented thoroughly from the late nineteenth century by the Lutheran missionary Carl Strehlow, the seminal Australian anthropologists Walter Baldwin Spencer and Francis Gillen and later by T.G.H. Strehlow. he Arrernte men worked with Strehlow to document their songs and ceremonies between 1932-1974. 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 Sym ...

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

Hyles livornicoides ''Hyles livornicoides'', the Australian striped hawk moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae first described by Eugen Johann Christoph Esper in 1779. The larvae are known by the common name Yeperenye caterpillar, in the Arrernte language the ca ...

''), ''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 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Distribution It is found in Africa and central and so ...

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

Coenotes eremophilae ''Coenotes eremophilae'' is a species of moth of the family Sphingidae first described by Thomas Pennington Lucas in 1891. It is known from Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The wingspan is about 50 mm. Adults have ...

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

MacDonnell Ranges The MacDonnell Ranges, or Tjoritja in Arrernte, is a mountain range located in southern Northern Territory. MacDonnell Ranges is also the name given to an interim Australian bioregion broadly encompassing the mountain range, with an area of .< ...

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. Life Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived ther ...

'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

only. *

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 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 west of Alice Springs, out to

Mutitjulu Mutitjulu is an Aboriginal Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia located at the eastern end of Uluṟu (also known as Ayers Rock). It is named after a knee-shaped water-filled rock hole at the base of Uluṟu, and is loc ...

and King's Canyon.

Notes

Citations

Sources

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

External links

Arrernte Tribal Group
{{authority control Arrernte