The Maralinga Tjarutja, or Maralinga Tjarutja Council, is the corporation representing the traditional Anangu owners of the remote western areas of

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 ...

known as the Maralinga Tjarutja lands. The council was established by the ''Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act 1984''. The area is one of the four regions of South Australia classified as an Aboriginal Council (AC) and not incorporated within a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

. The

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

people whose historic rights over the area have been officially recognised belong to the southern branch of the

Pitjantjatjara people 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 var ...

. The land includes a large area of land contaminated by British nuclear testing in the 1950s, for which the inhabitants were eventually compensated in 1991. There is a community centre at Oak Valley, NW of

Ceduna Ceduna may refer to: *Ceduna, South Australia, a town and locality *Ceduna Airport Ceduna Airport is a public airport in Ceduna, South Australia. The airport, which is owned by the District Council of Ceduna is located adjacent to the Eyre ...

, and close historical and kinship links with the

Yalata Yalata is an Aboriginal community located west of Ceduna and south of Ooldea on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. It lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people, but the settlement began as Yalata Mission in the ...

south, and the Pila Nguru centre of Tjuntjuntjara to their west.

Languages and peoples

The Maralinga Tjarutja people belong to a general Western Desert ecological zone sharing cultural affinities with 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 ...

Yankunytjatjara The Yankunytjatjara people, also written Yankuntjatjarra, Jangkundjara, and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. Language Yankunytjatjara is a Western Desert language belonging to the Wati la ...

and

Ngaanyatjarra The Ngaanyatjarra, also known (along with the Pini) as the Nana, are an Indigenous Australian cultural group of Western Australia. They are located in the Goldfields-Esperance region, as well as Northern Territory. Language Ngaanyatjarra is ...

to their north and the Pila Nguru of the spinifex plains to their west, They speak dialects of

and

Ecology and cultural beliefs

The term ''

maralinga Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia, was the site, measuring about in area, of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s. In January 1985 native title was granted to the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aborigi ...

'' is not of local origin. It is a term chosen from the Garig or Garik dialect of the now-extinct

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 ...

Ilgar language Ilgar, also known as Garig-Ilgar after its two dialects, is an extinct Iwaidjan language spoken in the mainland of Cobourg Peninsula, around Port Essington, Northern Territory. Phonology Consonant inventory Evans, Nicholas (1998). "Iwaidja mu ...

, signifying "field of thunder/thunder", and was selected to designate the area where atomic bomb testing was to be undertaken by the then Chief Scientist of the

Department of Supply The Department of Supply was an Australian government department that existed between March 1950 and June 1974. History Established in 1950, the Department of Supply headquarters transferred to Canberra in January 1968. In 1964 the ...

, W. A. S. Butement. The land was covered in spinifex grasses and good red soil (''parna wiru'') furnishing fine camping. Waterholes (''kapi'') have a prominent function in their mythology: they are inhabited by spirit children and thought of as birth places, and control of them demarcate the various tribal groups. According to

Ronald Berndt Ronald Murray Berndt (14 July 1916 – 2 May 1990) was an Australian social anthropologist who, in 1963, became the inaugural professor of anthropology at the University of Western Australia. He and his wife Catherine Berndt maintained a close ...

, one particular water snake, ''Wanampi'', tutelage spirit over native doctors, whose fertility function appears to parallel in some respects that of the

Rainbow serpent The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion ...

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

myth, was regarded as the creator of these ''kapi'', and figured prominently in male initiation ceremonies.

Contact

Ooldea Ooldea is a tiny settlement in South Australia. It is on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain, west of Port Augusta on the Trans-Australian Railway. Ooldea is from the bitumen Eyre Highway. Being near a permanent waterhole, Ooldea Soak, ...

or ''Yuldi/Yutulynga/Yooldool'' (the place of abundant water) sits on a permanent underground

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

. The area is thought to have been originally part of Wirangu land, lying on its northern border, though it fell within the boundaries of a

Kokatha The Kokatha, also known as the Kokatha Mula, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. They speak the Kokatha language, close to or a dialect of the Western Desert language. Country Traditional Kokatha lands extend ov ...

emu totem group. It served several Aboriginal peoples, furnishing them with a ceremonial site, trade node and meeting place for other groups, from the northeast who would travel several hundred miles to visit kin. Among the peoples who congregated there were tribes from the Kokatha and Ngalea northern groups and Wirangu of south-east and

Mirning The Mirning, also known as the Ngandatha, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lay on the coastal region of the Great Australian Bight extending from Western Australia into south-west South Australia. Name ''Mirniŋ'' was ...

south-west. By the time Daisy Bates (1919–1935) took up residence there it was thought that earlier groups had disappeared, replaced by an influx of

spinifex people The Pila Nguru, often referred to in English as the Spinifex people, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Australia, whose lands extend to the border with South Australia and to the north of the Nullarbor Plain. The centre of their h ...

from the north. By her time, the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the easter ...

route had just been completed, coinciding with a drought that drew the Western desert peoples to the depot at Ooldea. Beginning in the 1890s, there was a gradual encroachment by pastoralists up to the southern periphery of the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

, but the lack of adequate water to sustain stock maintained the region relatively intact from intense exploitation. In 1933 the United Aborigines Missions established itself there, drawing substantial numbers of desert folk to the site for food and clothing, and four years later, the government established a reserve. In 1941, the anthropologists

Ronald Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'',#H2, Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; #H1, Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English ''Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised ...

and

Catherine Berndt Catherine Helen Berndt, ''née'' Webb (8 May 1918 – 12 May 1994), born in Auckland, was an Australian anthropologist known for her research in Australia and Papua New Guinea. She was awarded in 1950 the Percy Smith Medal from the University o ...

spent several months in the Aboriginal camp at the water soak and mission, and in the following three-year period (1942–1945) wrote one of the first scientific ethnographies of an Australian tribal group, based on his interviews in a community of some 700 desert people. Traditional life still continued since Ooldea lay on the fringe of the desert, and incoming Aboriginal people could return to their old hunting style.

Nuclear testing, dispossession and return

When the

Australian Government 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 ...

decided in the early 1950s to set aside the

Emu Field Emu Field is located in the desert of South Australia, at (ground zero Totem I test). Variously known as Emu Field, Emu Junction or Emu, it was the site of the Operation Totem pair of nuclear tests conducted by the British government in Octob ...

and

Maralinga Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia, was the site, measuring about in area, of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s. In January 1985 native title was granted to the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aborigi ...

in the area for British nuclear testing, the community at Ooldea was forcibly removed from the land and resettled further south at

, in 1952. Road blocks and soldiers barred any return. Yalata, bordering on the

offered a totally different

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

environment; in place of the spinifex plains to the north, the Maralinga Tjaruta people found an arid stone plain, with poor thin soil and a powdery limestone that kicked up a grey dust when disturbed. Their word for "grey", namely ''tjilpi'' also signified the greying elders of a tribe, and the Aboriginal residents of Yalata called the new area ''parna tjilpi'', the "grey earth/ground", suggesting that their forced relocation to Yalata went concomitantly with ageing towards death. Between 1956 and 1957, seven atomic bombs were exploded on Maralinga land. In further minor trials from 1957 to 1962,

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...

was dispersed widely over much of the area. Compensation in 1993 of was determined after three elders flew to London and presented samples of the contaminated soil in London in October 1991. In 1962, the long-serving

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

Sir Thomas Playford Sir Thomas Playford (5 July 1896 – 16 June 1981) was an Australian politician from the state of South Australia. He served continuously as Premier of South Australia and leader of the Liberal and Country League (LCL) from 5 November 1938 to 10 ...

, made a promise that their traditional lands would be restored to the people displaced at Yalata sometime in the future. Under the administration of his successor

Frank Walsh Francis Henry Walsh (6 July 1897 – 18 May 1968) was the 34th Premier of South Australia from 10 March 1965 to 1 June 1967, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. Early life One of eight children, Walsh was b ...

, short two-week long bush trips were permitted, enabling them to re-connect with their traditional lifestyles. As negotiations got underway in the 1980s, the Indigenous peoples started setting up outstations near their original lands. With the passage of the ''Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act 1984'' under Premier

John Bannon John Charles Bannon (7 May 1943 – 13 December 2015) was an Australian politician and academic. He was the 39th Premier of South Australia, leading the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party from a single term in opposition ba ...

's government, the Maralinga Tjarutja secured

freehold title In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., per ...

in 1984, and the right to developmental funds from the State and Federal governments. They completed a move back into the area, to a new community called Oak Valley in March 1985. Under an agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia in 1995, efforts were made to clean up the Maralinga site, being completed in 1995. Tonnes of soil and debris contaminated with

and

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

were buried in two trenches about deep. The effectiveness of the cleanup has been disputed on a number of occasions. In 2003 South Australian Premier

Mike Rann Michael David Rann, , (born 5 January 1953) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and Australian am ...

opened a new school costing at Oak Valley. The new school replaced two caravans with no running water or air-conditioning, a facility that had been described as the "worst school in Australia". In May 2004, following the passage of special legislation, Rann fulfilled a pledge he had made to Maralinga leader

Archie Barton Archie Barton was an Aboriginal Australian political activist and land-rights campaigner. He played a key role in the 20-year campaign in the Maralinga Tjarutja people regaining ownership of their land, following the British nuclear tests at Ma ...

as Aboriginal Affairs Minister in 1991, by handing back title to of land to the Maralinga Tjarutja and Pila Nguru people. The land, north-west of Adelaide and abutting the

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 th ...

border, is now known as Mamungari Conservation Park. It includes the

Serpentine Lakes The Serpentine Lakes is a chain of salt lakes in the Great Victoria Desert of Australia. It runs for almost along the border between South Australia and Western Australia. When full, the lakes cover an area of . Most of it is located in the Ma ...

and was the largest land return since Premier

's hand over of Maralinga lands in 1984. The returned lands included the sacred

area, which also included the site of Daisy Bates' mission camp. In 2014, the last part of the land remaining in the

Woomera Prohibited Area The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a d ...

, known as "Section 400", was excised and returned to free access.

Maralinga Tjarutja Council

The Maralinga Tjarutja Council is an incorporated body constituted by the traditional Yalata and Maralinga owners to administer the lands granted to them under the ''Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act 1984'' (SA). The head office is in

. The Maralinga Tjarutja and the Pila Nguru (or

Spinifex people The Pila Nguru, often referred to in English as the Spinifex people, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Australia, whose lands extend to the border with South Australia and to the north of the Nullarbor Plain. The centre of their h ...

) also jointly own and administer the Mamungari Conservation Park, which area is contained in the area total for the council area.

is now part of the council area, too, while the

area is still a roughly square-shaped

enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

within the council area. The land surveyed and known as Section 400, within the Taranaki Plumes, was returned to Traditional Ownership in 2007. This land includes the area of land occupied by the Maralinga Township and the areas in which atomic tests were carried out by the British and Australian governments. The final part of the former nuclear test site was returned in 2014.

Documentary film

Maralinga Tjarutja The Maralinga Tjarutja, or Maralinga Tjarutja Council, is the corporation representing the traditional Anangu owners of the remote western areas of South Australia known as the Maralinga Tjarutja lands. The council was established by the ''Mara ...

'', a May 2020 television documentary film directed by

Larissa Behrendt Larissa Yasmin Behrendt (born 1969) is an Australian legal academic, writer, filmmaker and Indigenous rights advocate. she is a professor of law and director of research and academic programs at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education ...

and made by

Blackfella Films Blackfella Films is a Sydney-based documentary and narrative production company, founded in 1992 by Rachel Perkins. The company produces distinctive Australian short and feature-length content for film and television with a particular focus on ...

for

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

, tells the story of the people of Maralinga. It was deliberately broadcast around the same time that the drama series ''

Operation Buffalo Operation Buffalo may refer to: * Operation Buffalo, 1944 military operation, part of the Battle of Anzio in WW2 * Operation Buffalo (1956), four open-air nuclear tests at Maralinga, South Australia * Operation Buffalo (1967), a Vietnam War opera ...

'' was on, to give voice to the Indigenous people of the area and show how it disrupted their lives. Screenhub gave it 4.5 stars, calling it an "excellent documentary". The film shows the resilience of the Maralinga Tjarutja people, in which the elders "reveal a perspective of

deep time Deep time is a term introduced and applied by John McPhee to the concept of geologic time in his book ''Basin and Range'' (1981), parts of which originally appeared in the ''New Yorker'' magazine. The philosophical concept of geological time w ...

and an understanding of place that generates respect for the sacredness of both", their ancestors having lived in the area for millennia. Despite the callous disregard for their occupation of the land shown by the British and Australians involved in the testing, the people have continued to fight for their rights to look after the contaminated land. The film, which was produced by

Darren Dale Darren Dale is an Indigenous Australian film and television producer. Since joining Blackfella Films as a producer in 2001, he is co-director of the company, along with founder Rachel Perkins. Dale is known for co-producing many films and tel ...

, won the 2020

AACTA Award The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

for Best Direction in Nonfiction Television and the Silver Award for Documentary (Human Rights) at the 2021

New York Festivals New York Festivals, are a collection of related annual arts and media awards based in New York City. The awards include the New York Festivals Advertising Awards, "Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness" AME Awards, Bowery Awards, Global Awards, R ...

TV & Film Awards.

Notes

Citations

Sources

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

External links

* * Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements (ATNS) project: *
Maralinga Tjarutja Council
*
Southern Pitjantjatjara People
*
Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Inc
*
Pitjantjatjara people (Anangu Pitjantjatjara)
*
Oak Valley (Maralinga) Inc.
*
Maralinga Piling Trust (1994 - )
*
Strategy for Aboriginal Managed Lands in South Australia (2000 - ) (SAMLISA)
**
SAMLISA Steering Committee

Hansard extract from South Australian House of Assembly, 15 October 2003, of Second Reading Speech on co-management of the unnamed conservation park
{{authority control Aboriginal land rights in Australia Local government areas of South Australia Nullarbor Plain Pitjantjatjara