Mulan is a small Aboriginal community 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 th ...

's east

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

. The community is in the

Shire of Halls Creek The Shire of Halls Creek is one of the four local government areas in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia, covering an area of , most of which is sparsely populated. The Shire's seat of government is the town of Halls Creek. Man ...

, 44 km to the southwest of Balgo and about 10 km east of Lake Gregory. At the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, Mulan had a population of 114. Most Mulan people are speakers of the Kukatja language, which is also spoken at Balgo. Kukatja is closely related to

Pintupi The Pintupi are an Australian Aboriginal group who are part of the Western Desert cultural group and whose traditional land is in the area west of Lake Macdonald and Lake Mackay in Western Australia. These people moved (or were moved) into the ...

, spoken at Kintore and

Kiwirrkura Kiwirrkurra, gazetted as Kiwirrkurra Community, is a small community in Western Australia in the Gibson Desert, east of Port Hedland and west of Alice Springs. It had a population of 165 in 2016, mostly Aboriginal Australians.Australian Burea ...

and many Mulan residents are closely related to people at those communities as well as at Balgo.

History

Mulan was established as a permanent Aboriginal community in the late 1970s by Walmajarri people moving away from the Balgo mission to the Lake Gregory Pastoral Station, near the shores of Lake Gregory. A major factor behind this was the transfer of the pastoral station from Lake Gregory Pty Ltd to the

Aboriginal Land Trust In Australia, an Aboriginal land trust (ALT) is a type of non-profit organisation that holds the freehold title to an area of land on behalf of a community of Aboriginal Australians. The land has been legally granted to a community by the governme ...

in 1978. The community became incorporated in 1979 and the first houses and school were constructed in the same year. In 1985, Crown Reserve 39102 was excised from the pastoral lease and vested to the ALT for the "use and benefit of Aboriginal inhabitants", with the land being formally leased to Mulan Aboriginal Corporation the following year.

Native title

The community is covered by the determined Tjurabalan People native title claim (WCD2001/001).

Governance

The community is managed through its incorporated body, Mallingbar Aboriginal Corporation, incorporated under the ''Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1796'' on 26 April 1983.

Town planning

Mulan Layout Plan No.2 is not yet endorsed by the community and exists in draft format only. The Layout Plan map-set and background report can be viewed at Planning Western Australia's website.

Notes and references

External links