Papunya (
Pintupi-Luritja
Pintupi () is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Wati languages of the large Pama–Nyungan family. It is one of the varieties of the Western Desert Language (WDL).
Pintupi is a variety of the Western Desert Language spoken ...
: ''Warumpi'') is a small
Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
community roughly northwest 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'' Al ...
(Mparntwe) in 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 ...
, Australia. It is known as an important centre for
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art (also known as contemporary Aboriginal Australian art) is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians, that is, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. It is generally regarded a ...
, in particular the style created by the
Papunya Tula
Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative ...
artists in the 1970s, referred to colloquially as
dot painting
Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative ...
. Its population in 2016 was 404.
History
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 ...
and
Luritja
The Luritja or Loritja people, also known as Kukatja or Kukatja-Luritja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their traditional lands are immediately west of the Derwent River, that forms a frontier with the Arrernte p ...
people were forced off their traditional country in the 1930s and moved into
Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort town since 1971. It is situated on the river ...
(Ntaria) and
Haasts Bluff
Haasts Bluff, also known as Ikuntji, is an Aboriginal Australian community in Central Australia, a region of the Northern Territory. The community is located in the MacDonnell Shire local government area, west of Alice Springs. At the 2006 cens ...
, where there were government ration depots. There were often tragic confrontations between these people, with their nomadic
hunter-gathering
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
lifestyle, and the cattlemen who were moving into the country and over-using the limited water supplies of the region for their cattle.
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 ...
built a
water bore and some basic housing at Papunya in the 1950s to provide room for the increasing populations of people in the already-established Aboriginal communities and reserves. The community grew to over a thousand people in the early 1970s and was plagued by poor living conditions, health problems, and tensions between various
tribal and linguistic groups. These festering problems led many people, especially the
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 ...
, to move further west closer to their traditional country. After settling in a series of
outstations, with little or no support from the government, the new community of
Kintore was established about west of Papunya in the early 1980s.
The term "
Finke River Mission
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 A ...
" was initially an alternative name for the
mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
at
Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort town since 1971. It is situated on the river ...
, but this name was later often used to include the settlements at
Haasts Bluff
Haasts Bluff, also known as Ikuntji, is an Aboriginal Australian community in Central Australia, a region of the Northern Territory. The community is located in the MacDonnell Shire local government area, west of Alice Springs. At the 2006 cens ...
,
Areyonga and, later, Papunya. It now refers to all Lutheran missionary activity in
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 ...
since the first mission was established at Hermannsburg in 1877.
Description and demographics
It is now home to a number of displaced
Aboriginal people, mainly from the
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 ...
and
Luritja
The Luritja or Loritja people, also known as Kukatja or Kukatja-Luritja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their traditional lands are immediately west of the Derwent River, that forms a frontier with the Arrernte p ...
groups. At the
2016 Australian census
The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as – an incre ...
, Papunya had a population of 404.
[
The predominant religion at Papunya is ]Lutheranism
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
, with 310 members, or 78.7% of the population, based on the 2016 census.[
It is the closest town to the Australian ]continental pole of inaccessibility
A pole of inaccessibility with respect to a geographical criterion of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach according to that criterion. Often it refers to the most distant point from the coastline, implying a m ...
. Papunya is on restricted Aboriginal land and requires a permit to enter or travel through.
Warumpi Band
Warumpi Band () were an Australian country and Aboriginal rock group which formed in the outback settlement of Papunya, Northern Territory, in 1980. The original line-up was George Burarrwanga on vocals and didgeridoo, Gordon Butcher Tjapanang ...
were an Australian country and Aboriginal rock group which formed in Papunya.
Art
Papunya Tula
During the 1970s a striking new art style emerged in Papunya, which by the 1980s began to attract national and then international attention as a significant Indigenous art movement, colloquially known as dot painting
Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative ...
. Leading exponents of the style, who belonged to the Papunya Tula
Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative ...
art cooperative founded in Papunya in 1972, included Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO (1932 – 21 June 2002) was an Australian painter, considered to be one of the most collected and renowned Australian Aboriginal artists. His paintings are held in galleries and collections in Australia and ...
, Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri
__NOTOC__
Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, (c. 1927, in Ilpitirri near Mount Denison,- September 2015) was one of Australia's best-known artists of the Western Desert Art Movement, Papunya Tula.
Tjapaltjarri's mother was killed in the Coniston M ...
, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa
Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa ( 1920 – 1989) was a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist of Anmatyerre, Warlpiri and Arrernte heritage. One of the earliest and most significant artists at Papunya in Australia's Northern Territory in the e ...
, Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula
Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula (sometimes just Turkey Tolson; – 10 August 2001) was a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Born near Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory, Turkey Tolson was a major figure in the ...
, and Pansy Napangardi
Pansy Napangardi (born 1948) is an Australian artist. She is associated with the Jukurrpa group of women artists in Alice Springs where she lives today.
Early life
She was born at Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory, Australia. She remains one of t ...
. The company now operates out of Alice Springs, and covers an enormous area, extending into 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 ...
, west of Alice Springs.
Papunya Tjupi Arts
Papunya Tjupi Arts, a community-based, 100% Aboriginal-owned arts organisation, commenced in 2007, and hosts around 150 artists, many of whose works are featured in exhibitions and galleries around the world. In 2009, Michael Nelson Tjakamarra (Kumantje Jagamara) became the artist leader at the arts centre.
Artists include Doris Bush Nungarrayi
Doris Bush Nungarrayi is an Australian Aboriginal artist (born c. 1942, in Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory). She is a painter at the Aboriginal-owned Papunya Tjupi art centre in Papunya, an Indigenous Australian community northwest of Alice Sprin ...
, Maureen Poulson, Charlotte Phillipus Napurrula, Tilau Nangala, Mona Nangala, Nellie Nangala, Carbiene McDonald Tjangala, Martha McDonald Napaltjarri, Candy Nelson Nakamarra, Dennis Nelson Tjakamarra, Narlie Nelson Nakamarra, Isobel Major Nampatjimpa, Isobel Gorey, Mary Roberts, Beyula Putungka Napanangka, Watson Corby among others.
See also
* Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art (also known as contemporary Aboriginal Australian art) is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians, that is, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. It is generally regarded a ...
* Geoffrey Bardon
Geoffrey Robert Bardon AM (1940, Sydney – 6 May 2003) was an Australian school teacher who was instrumental in creating the Aboriginal art of the Western Desert movement.
Bardon studied law for three years at the University of Sydney, b ...
* Honey ant dreaming
Notes
Further reading
* ''Desart: Aboriginal art and craft centres of Central Australia''. (1993) Co-ordinator Diana James DESART, Alice Springs.
* ''Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert''. (1992) Geoffrey Bardon. Tuttle Publishers.
* ''Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius''. (2001) Eds. Hetti Perkins and Hannah Fink. Art Gallery of NSW in association with Papunya Tula Artists. .
*
External links
Papunya Painting: Out of the Desert
An online exhibition of Papunya artworks held by the National Museum of Australia
The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...
. The website includes the works, biographies of the artists, installation images and a bibliography.
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Towns in the Northern Territory
Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory
MacDonnell Region