Pukatja (formerly Ernabella, ) is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being

Amata According to Roman mythology, Amata (also called Palanto) was the wife of Latinus, king of the Latins, and the mother of their only child, Lavinia. In the Aeneid of Virgil, she commits suicide during the conflict between Aeneas and Turnus over ...

, Pipalyatjara, Fregon/ Kaltjiti, Indulkana and Mimili). Established as a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

mission in 1937 with enlightened practices which maintained the

Pitjantjatjara language Pitjantjatjara ( ; or ) is a dialect of the Western Desert language traditionally spoken by the Pitjantjatjara people of Central Australia. It is mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible with other varieties of the Western Desert languag ...

at the school and church services, Ernabella was handed over to the community in 1974 and was later named Pukatja. Ernabella Arts is Australia's oldest continuously running Indigenous art centre.

Time zone

Due to its links with the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and proximity to the border, the APY Lands do not observe daylight savings unlike the rest of South Australia. The time zone observed throughout the year is Australian Central Standard Time ( UTC+9:30), in line with Darwin rather than

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Geography

Pukatja is in the eastern

Musgrave Ranges Musgrave Ranges is a mountain range in Central Australia, straddling the boundary of South Australia ( Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) and the Northern Territory ( MacDonnell Shire), extending into Western Australia. It is between the Gre ...

, west of the

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

, about south of the

border, about south-west of

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

and north of Umuwa, the major administrative centre within the APY Lands. It is about by road from

. The community sits at an elevation of about . The area is prone to

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s, one of few areas of Australia to have experienced multiple large earthquakes in recorded history. In 2012 and 2013, the town experienced a 5.7 magnitude earthquake, classified as "moderate" on the

Richter scale The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...

and the country's two largest earthquakes in those years.

Population

In the

2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th Census in Australia, 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 count ...

, the population was 412, down from 503 in 2011.2011 Census QuickStats
/ref> In the , Pukatja had 226 residents, and was second only to sister community Mimili in having the lowest ''per capita'' income in

($174). Like a number of APY Lands communities, Pukatja boasted one of the highest proportions of Australian-born residents (97.5%).

History

Mission

Ernabella was 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 Pastoral farming, graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Austral ...

before it was established as a Presbyterian

mission station A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and ...

for Aboriginal people in 1937, driven by

medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

and Aboriginal rights campaigner

Charles Duguid use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kent Town, Adelaide , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = ...

(then president of the Aborigines Protection League) and supported by the

South Australian government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the highest ranking mem ...

Ernestine Hill Ernestine Hill (born Mary Ernestine Hemmings, 21 January 1899 — 21 August 1972) was an Australian journalist, travel writer and novelist. Known for her various travels across Australia and her writings about the diverse landscapes and cul ...

, after travelling in the area in the 1930s, wrote that colonisation only began there when the collection of

dingo The dingo (either included in the species ''Canis familiaris'', or considered one of the following independent taxa: ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage ...

scalps (to help protect the sheep) by "doggers" started. Relationships of various types developed between the doggers and the local people, with the Aboriginal people's superior skills used to hunt collect the scalps, for which they were paid in rations, clothing and other goods. Some doggers cohabited with the local women, and sometimes groups of Anangu travelled with the doggers or set themselves up as doggers in their own right. There was a number of pastoral leases on the edge of the Western Desert, established from the 1880s, but development was marginal in the Musgrave Ranges area. Farming in these arid lands was labour-intensive, and an interdependence between the pastoralists and Aboriginal people developed. On a trip to Ernabella in 1935, Duguid noticed discrimination and heard reports of abuse of Aboriginal men's labour and the sexual abuse of women. He advocated the establishment of a mission "to act as a buffer between the Aborigines and the encroaching white settlers". In 1936 he persuaded the General Assembly of the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

to purchase the Ernabella lease, an area of , despite some opposition from other members (including John Flynn). Duguid laid down the following principles for the mission: "There was to be no compulsion nor imposition of our way of life on the Aborigines, nor deliberate interference with tribal custom ... only people trained in some particular skill should be on the mission staff, and ... they must learn the tribal language. The mission respected the culture and traditions of the Pitjantjatjara and

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 lan ...

people, the two groups of the large

Western Desert language The Western Desert language, or Wati, is a dialect cluster of Australian Aboriginal languages in the Pama–Nyungan family. The name ''Wati'' tends to be used when considering the various varieties to be distinct languages, ''Western Desert'' w ...

bloc who now call themselves Anangu, and offered medical help and education, with no conditions attached. Author and researcher Carol Pybus wrote that the Ernabella Mission did not interfere with tribal life, and many of the Aboriginal people "regard the mission times and their relationship with missionaries in a positive light", and enjoyed a spiritual life which blended Christianity with their beliefs and practices. Children were never separated from their families. The desert people had always been highly mobile, and shared

Dreamtime 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 religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...

stories and other aspects of culture; during the drought of 1914–1915, people had come from the Mann Ranges area and stayed in the area. There was no need for the missionaries to entice people to the Mission; people moved there on their own accord. Some saw it as a place of care and protection from exploitation. The Mission encouraged independence and supported the sometime-residents' nomadic way of life. Duguid's idea of a "buffer zone", however, was a two-edged sword. In hindsight, although it created a safe space, it also entrenched the boundary and perhaps widened the gap between people at the Mission and wider society. The first school building was completed in 1940, and was unique in South Australia in that English was not taught as the first language; it was only introduced as a second language in 1944. "Writing, reading and spelling, arithmetic, hygiene, drawing, singing, gardening, woodwork and sewing, geography and Nature Study" were all taught in Pitjantjatjara. Enrolment rose from 25 in 1940 to 200 in 1943, with daily attendance of about 45, with no compulsion to attend. Hymns and parts of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

were translated into Pitjantjatjara. In the early 1950s, Superintendent Ron Trudinger wrote of a "tribal home", and there was talk of a "Native Village". Through the 1950s, cultural changes did occur, with traditional ways dropped and new practices adopted. The first baptisms took place in 1952, to the sound of hymns sung in Pitjantjatjara, but there was little proselytising, and old ways co-existed alongside the new. Staff at the Mission stayed for long periods: apart from Trudinger (1940–1957), there was James Robert Beattie Love (1937–1946), Bill Edwards (1958–1972), John Bennett (25 years overseeing the sheep enterprise), and Deaconess Winifred Hilliard coordinated the Ernabella Craft centre (now Ernabella Arts) from 1954 to 1974 and continued to work for Ernabella Arts until 1986. There was deep respect and affection between the people and the staff; Hilliard was buried there, and a large contingent of Ernabella people, including the Choir, attended Edwards' funeral in Adelaide in 2015. In 1972, the community elders, who called Duguid "Tjilpi" ("respected old man"), wrote to him saying that they wanted him to be buried at Ernabella "so that Aborigines will always remember that he was one of us and that he faithfully helped us". Duguid regarded this as a great compliment, and after his death on 5 December 1986, his body was flown to Ernabella and buried among his friends in the Mission Cemetery.

Handover to community

Responsibility for the administration of Ernabella Mission was formally handed over to the Ernabella Community Council – later Pukatja Community Council – on 1 January 1974. The settlement was funded by the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

as an outstation during the 1980s.PDF
/ref>

Heritage-listed buildings

The former Ernabella Mission Hospital, Church and Manse are listed on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

Ernabella Arts

Established in 1948, Ernabella Arts remains in operation, as Australia's oldest continuously running Indigenous Art Centre. During the 1950s and 1960s, art and craft using locally produced wool was the predominant artistic form produced by the Ernabella artists.

Batik Batik is a dyeing technique using wax Resist dyeing, resist. The term is also used to describe patterned textiles created with that technique. Batik is made by drawing or stamping wax on a cloth to prevent colour absorption during the dyein ...

was successfully introduced after several Ernabella artists travelled to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

in the 1970s. The Ernabella artists are renowned for their batik work and printmaking. A substantial collection of Ernabella art can be seen at the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia (NMA), 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 ''Nation ...

, including a range of fine ceramics also produced by the Ernabella artists. In recent years, female elders have started to depict their '' Tjukurpa'' (sacred stories of country and law) in their art. Artists both young and old, including some very senior men and women, work at the centre. The award-winning Dickie Minyintiri was perhaps the most well-known artist to work there. Other artists associated with Ernabella Arts include Yilpi Adamson, Milyika Carroll, Malpiya Davey, Angkuna Kulyuru, Nura Rupert, Tjunkaya Tapaya, and Harry Tjutjuna. Ernabella Arts is one of ten Indigenous-owned and -governed enterprises that go to make up the APY Art Centre Collective, established in 2013.

Facilities

A permit is required for visitors to any community on the APY Lands, as they are freehold lands owned by the Aboriginal people. a major road upgrade, funded by federal and state governments, has been under way since 2016. of the Main Access Road between the Stuart Highway and Pukatja are being improved to improve general road safety, communications, food delivery, emergency service access and community interaction. The airstrip access road is also being upgraded. By May 2019, a total of had been constructed, including the Pukatja Airstrip Access Road, a section from the Stuart Highway to Iwantja (Indulkana), and the section (Stage 1) between Pukatja and Umuwa. The Ernabella Anangu School offers reception through to senior high school. Technical and Further Education (

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

) facilities for the APY Lands are based at Pukatja and the other centres. The old Pukatja

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

, which was not permanently staffed, was in poor condition and due for replacement in July 2007. A month later the State Government announced that it would spend A$7.5 million at Amata and Pukatja for new police stations, court facilities and cells along with associated police housing and facilities. The new, permanently staffed facilities were opened in March 2010, staffed by one sergeant, three constables and a Police Aboriginal Liaison Officer. The police officers' duties include liaison with and participation in the school, football team and local Country Fire Service (CFS) activities. There are telephones (

landline A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

and

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

s),

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over Copper wire, copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem ...

internet access, and multiple television channels including

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS ...

NITV National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week ''NITV News Updat ...

Imparja Imparja Television (IMP) is an independent Australian television station servicing over , across six states and territories of Australia, states and territories: Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Aust ...

and ABC, and mail is delivered twice weekly by air from

. the supermarket is run by the Pukatja Supermarket & Associated Stores Aboriginal Corporation. The

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

has a congregation in Pukatja. After a long wait, a swimming pool was finally opened in January 2025.

Health

A new health clinic was built in 2009, with extensions completed in 2012. The Nganampa Health Council (NHC), an Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisation, runs all of the clinics in the APY lands and runs a wide range of services. In 2014, a Mobile Dialysis Unit, a specially designed truck fitted with three dialysis chairs started operation, visiting remote Aboriginal communities across South Australia, including Pukatja, Mimili, Kaltjiti and

in the APY lands, as well as Marla,

Yalata Yalata ( ), in the isolated far west of South Australia, is both an Indigenous Protected Area and, within that, a township of the same name where an Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal community lives. The township is west of Ceduna, South Aus ...

, Coober Pedy, and Leigh Creek. It is run from Purple House, a renal health clinic in

, over away. In July 2018, Health Minister Greg Hunt and

Ken Wyatt Kenneth George Wyatt (born 4 August 1952) is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022, representing the Division of Hasluck for the Liberal Party of ...

, then Minister for Indigenous Health, announced increased funding for a number of health initiatives, including expanding renal health units in remote parts, through the

National Health and Medical Research Council The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded res ...

(NHMRC). In November 2019, a four-bed dialysis clinic was opened in Pukatja, named after Kinyin Mckenzie, who died in Alice Springs while receiving dialysis. The first such clinic in remote South Australia, it was funded mostly by the federal government, but boosted by the sale of paintings by Ernabella Arts, which raised towards the centre. At full capacity, the clinic can provide dialysis for up to 16 patients, but there is still a need for some short-stay housing to accommodate those who travel from elsewhere for treatment at Pukatja.

Fauna

Warru

In October 2007 it was reported that the black-flanked rock wallaby, known as ''warru'' to the local population, faced extinction, and that 15 of the wallabies had been transferred from an undisclosed location on the APY Lands and also from Pukatja, to Monarto Zoo (now Monarto Safari Park). It had been estimated that there were only about 50 of the animals left in the wild. Work to monitor the species' survival was said to involve

Aboriginal tracker Aboriginal trackers were enlisted by Europeans in the years following History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation of Australia, to assist them in exploring the Australian landscape. The excellent tracking skills of these Aboriginal ...

s and schoolchildren from Pukatja to help track the wallabies' movements. Previously widespread throughout the ranges of central Australia, the warru is South Australia's most endangered mammal, primarily due to predation by foxes and

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

s. However Monarto Safari Park has had some success in breeding the wallabies, and has helped to establish a viable population (22) of the wallabies in a fenced area, known as the Pintji, in the APY lands. In June 2017 the zoo announced that 25 of the population bred at Pintji, along with 15 others, had been released into the wild. These will be monitored and feral animal control measures are in place.

Climate

Climate records for Ernabella/Pukatja have been kept since 1971. Due to its elevation high in the Musgrave Ranges, Pukatja is one of the coldest locations in central Australia. Minimum temperatures may drop below with heavy frost and daytime maximum temperatures below may occur each winter. Summers are still hot, however Pukatja does not experience the scorching plus summer maximum temperatures typical of most of inland South Australia. Average January maximums are and this drops to in June. Overnight lows range from a mean minimum temperature of in January to in June. Annual rainfall averages , which is typical of an arid climate, and mostly falls from brief summer thunderstorms.