Kulgera is a locality in 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 Aust ...

of Australia. It is south 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'' A ...

and north of the border with

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, 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 o ...

, making it the southernmost permanent settlement in the Northern Territory. It sits on the junction of the

Stuart Highway Stuart Highway is a major Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; a distance of . Its northern and southern extremities are segments of Aus ...

and the road to

Aputula Aputula (formerly Finke until the 1980s) is a remote Indigenous Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is south of Alice Springs and east of Kulgera roadhouse on the Stuart Highway, near the border with South Australi ...

. In the 2006 Australian census it had a population of 50.

History

Kulgera is the

Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...

name for an outcrop of granite rocks just east of the settlement. According to Nicolas Rothwell, Kulgera is derived from ''kalgka'' in the Pertam language of the mountains and that word "refers to a particularly private recess of a private part of the female anatomy"."A farm by any other name"
by Nicolas Rothwell, ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', 23 December 2013 A

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Australia Pastoral lease ...

of to the north east of the outcrop was granted to the Coulthard family in 1928 and was named Kulgera Station.

Transport

Kulgera is located on

. It is served by Greyhound Australia. Being the closest settlement to the South Australia/Northern Territory border makes it a well-known locality among travellers. Kulgera railway station is 12 km east of the settlement on the Adelaide–Darwin railway.

The Ghan ''The Ghan'' is an experiential tourism oriented passenger train service that operates between the northern and southern coasts of Australia, through the cities of Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor. O ...

, run by Great Southern Rail between Adelaide and Darwin arrives twice weekly in each direction.Australian Railmaps
"Rail Map - Perth to Adelaide, Central and Northern Australia"
Accessed 12 June 2007. Kulgera Airport (

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tarif ...

: KGR,

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

: YKUL) is adjacent to the settlement but is served only by

charter flight Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...

Climate

Climate staticstics were monitored in Kulgera since 1968.

In popular culture

Kulgera features in the

Redgum Redgum were an Australian folk and political music group formed in Adelaide in 1975 by singer-songwriter John Schumann, Michael Atkinson on guitars/vocals, Verity Truman on flute/vocals; they were later joined by Hugh McDonald on fiddle and Ch ...

song "Lear Jets Over Kulgera" from their 1981 album ''

Brown Rice and Kerosine ''Brown Rice and Kerosine'' is the third album by Australian folk-rock group Redgum Redgum were an Australian folk and political music group formed in Adelaide in 1975 by singer-songwriter John Schumann, Michael Atkinson on guitars/vocals, ...

''.

References

Towns in the Northern Territory {{NorthernTerritory-geo-stub