The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the

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 ...

n desert near

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Spring ...

. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara 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 i ...

and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are varieties of the Western Desert language). They refer to themselves as

aṉangu Aṉangu is the name used by members of several Aboriginal Australian groups, roughly approximate to the Western Desert cultural bloc, to describe themselves. The term, which embraces several distinct "tribes" or peoples, in particular the Nga ...

(people). The Pitjantjatjara live mostly in the northwest of

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 ...

, extending across the border into 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 ...

to just south of

Lake Amadeus Lake Amadeus (together with Lake Neale, Pitjantjatjara: ''Pantu'' ("salt lakes")) is a large salt lake in the southwest corner of Northern Territory of Australia, about north of Uluru. The smaller Lake Neale is adjacent to the northwest. It ...

, and west a short distance 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 t ...

. The land is an inseparable and important part of their identity, and every part of it is rich with stories and meaning to aṉangu. They have, for the most part, given up their nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle but have retained their language and much of their culture in synergy with increasing influences from the broader

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n community. Today there are still about 4,000 aṉangu living scattered in small communities and outstations across their traditional lands, forming one of the most successful joint land arrangements in

with Aboriginal traditional owners.

Pronunciation

The

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and us ...

''Pitjantjatjara'' is usually pronounced (in normal, fast speech) with elision of one of the repeated syllables ''-tja-'', thus: ''pitjantjara''. In more careful speech all syllables will be pronounced.

Etymology

The name ''Pitjantjatjara'' derives from the word ''pitjantja'', a nominalised form of the verb "go" (equivalent to the English "going" used as a noun). Combined with the comitative suffix ''-tjara'', it means something like "''pitjantja''-having" (i.e. the variety that uses the word ''pitjantja'' for "going"). This distinguishes it from its near neighbour Yankunytjatjara which has ''yankunytja'' for the same meaning. This naming strategy is also the source of the names of

and Ngaatjatjarra but in that case the names contrast the two languages based on their words for "this" (respectively, ''ngaanya'' and ''ngaatja''). The two languages Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara may be grouped together under the name Nyangatjatjara (indicating that they have ''nyangatja'' for "this") which then contrasts them with

and Ngaatjatjarra.

Language

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

is used as a general term for a number of closely related dialects which together, according to Ronald Trudinger were "spoken over a wider area of Australia than any other Aboriginal language". With Yankunytjatjara it shares an 80% overlap in vocabulary.

Some major communities

See WARU community directory for a complete list * in South Australia type 2 ** in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, including: *** Ernabella also called Pukatja ***

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 ...

*** Kalka *** Pipalyatjara **

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 e ...

** Oak Valley * In the Northern Territory **

Docker River Kaltukatjara , also known as Docker River, is a remote Indigenous Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is southwest of Alice Springs, west of the Stuart Highway, near the Western Australia and Northern Territory borde ...

** Areyonga ** Mutitjulu * In Western Australia ** Wingellina also called Irruntju

History

A tract of land was established in the north west of

for the Pitjantjatjara in 1921 after they lost much land due to hostile encroachment by hunters and ranchers. Extended droughts in the 1920s and between 1956 and 1965 in their traditional lands in the Great Victoria and

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

deserts led many Pitjantjatjara, and their traditionally more westerly relations, the

, to move east towards the railway between

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and

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 ...

in search of food and water, thus mixing with the most easterly of the three, the Yankunytjatjara. They refer to themselves as ''

'', which originally just meant people in general, but has now come to imply an Aboriginal person or, more specifically, a member of one of the groups that speaks a variety of the Western Desert Language. In response to continuing outside pressures on the aṉangu, the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

gave its support to a plan by the

Presbyterian Church of Australia The Presbyterian Church of Australia (PCA) is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Australia. (The larger Uniting Church in Australia incorporated about two-thirds of the PCA in 1977.) History Beginnings When captain James Cook landed ...

to set up the Ernabella Mission in the Musgrave Ranges as a safe haven. This mission, largely due to the actions of their advocate,

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 = ...

, was ahead of the times in that there was no systematic attempt to destroy Aboriginal culture, as was common on many other missions. From 1950 onwards, many aṉangu were forced to leave their traditional lands due to British nuclear tests at Maralinga. Some aṉangu were subsequently contaminated by the

nuclear fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...

from the atomic tests, and many have died as a consequence. Their experience of issues of land rights and

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

in South Australia has been unique. After four years of campaigning and negotiations with government and mining groups, the '' Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1981'' was passed on 19 March 1981, granting freehold title over of land in the northwestern corner of South Australia. The '' Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act 1984'' (SA) granted freehold title of an area of to Maralinga Tjarutja. The subsequently named Mamungari Conservation Park) with was transferred to the Maralinga Tjarutja in 2004.

Recognition of sacred sites

The sacred sites of Uluru / Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuṯa / Mount Olga possess important spiritual and ceremonial significance for the ''Anangu'' with more than 40 named sacred sites and 11 separate

Tjukurpa 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 beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his co ...

(or "Dreaming") tracks in the area, some of which lead as far as the sea. Uluru / Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga are separated from the Pitjantjatjara lands by the border between the

and South Australia and have become a major tourist attraction and a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

. The

Central Land Council The Central Land Council (CLC) is a land council that represents the Aboriginal peoples of the southern half of the Northern Territory of Australia (NT), predominantly with regard to land issues. it is one of four land councils in the Northern T ...

laid claim to the

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The park is home to both Uluru and Kata Tjuta. It is located south of Darwin by road and south-west of Alice Springs along the Stuart and Lassete ...

and some adjoining vacant Crown land in 1979, but this claim was challenged by the Northern Territory Government. After years of intensive lobbying by the land council, on 11 November 1983 the prime minister,

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

, announced that the federal government intended to transfer inalienable freehold title to them. He agreed to ten main points they had demanded in exchange for a lease-back arrangement to the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service in a "joint-management" régime where ''Anangu'' would have a majority on the board of management. This was implemented in 1985, after further negotiations extended the lease period from 50 to 99 years and agreement was reached on the retention of tourists' access to Uluru / Ayers Rock. The Arrernte land is Aboriginal land in central Australia. It is controlled by the Arrernte Council which in turn is controlled by the Central Land Council from

Notable people

* Gordon Briscoe, an association football player *

Ian Abdulla Ian Abdulla (1947–2011) was an Aboriginal Australian contemporary artist. A Ngarrindjeri man who grew up on the banks of the Murray in South Australia, he has been called Australia's greatest naive artist. Early life Abdulla was born in ...

, an award-winning author, and artist * Trevor Adamson, a country/gospel singer * Anmanari Brown, pioneering artist * Hector Burton, an artist *

Wawiriya Burton Wawiriya Burton is an Australian Aboriginal artist. She is known for her acrylic paintings. Her paintings are representations of sacred stories from the Dreamtime. Like other Aboriginal artists, the representations are blurred (or encrypted) f ...

, an artist, known for acrylic works *

Angkaliya Curtis Angkaliya Curtis (born 1928) is an Australian Aboriginal artist. She paints animals from the central Australian desert. Early life Curtis was born around 1928, at a place called Miti, in north-western South Australia. Her family are Pitjantjatj ...

, an artist * Malpiya Davey, also known as Irpintiri Davey, an artist, known for ceramic artworks * Jimmy James OAM, a tracker * Rene Kulitja, an artist, a famous design is Yananyi Dreaming, which covers a Qantas Boeing 737 * David Miller, an artist * Dickie Minyintiri, an award-winning artist, and sacred lawman *

Tiger Palpatja Tiger Palpatja ( - 16 April 2012) was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. Life Tiger was born around 1920 (though the exact year is not known). He was born in the bush, at a rockhole called ...

, an artist * Walter Pukutiwara, an artist * Kunmanara Stewart, an artist * Tjunkaya Tapaya, a batik artist * Malya Teamay, an Aboriginal Australian artist, and Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park management board member *

Wingu Tingima Wingu Tingima (died 8 March 2010) was an Aboriginal artist from central Australia. She was born in Great Victoria Desert, and grew up living a traditional way of life in the bush, without any contact with Western civilization. A member of the Pit ...

, an artist *

Tony Tjamiwa Tony Tjamiwa (died 12 May 2001), also known as Tony Curtis, was a highly respected elder, traditional healer and storyteller of the Pitjantjatjara people. He was a native speaker of the Pitjantjatjara language. Biography Tony Tjamiwa was a s ...

, also known as Tony Curtis, a traditional healer and storyteller *

Harry Tjutjuna Harry Tjutjuna is an Aboriginal artist from central Australia. He belongs to the Pitjantjatjara people. Tjutjuna began painting in 2005. He held his first solo exhibition in 2007, in Darwin. His work is now held in several major public galleri ...

, an artist *

Yannima Tommy Watson Yannima Tommy Watson known as Tommy Watson (born 1930s) was an contemporary Indigenous Australian art, Indigenous Australian artist, of the Pitjantjatjara people from Australia’s central Western Desert cultural bloc, western desert. He was de ...

, known as Tommy Watson, an artist *

Ginger Wikilyiri Ginger Nobby Wikilyiri is an Australian Aboriginal artist from Nyapaṟi, South Australia. Life Wikilyiri was born around 1932, in the desert of north-western South Australia. The place where he was born is Kunamata, a rock hole south of wha ...

, an artist * Ruby Williamson, an artist, known for acrylic works *

Bart Willoughby Bart Willoughby (born 12 September 1960) is an Indigenous Australian musician, noted for his pioneering fusion of reggae with Indigenous Australian musical influences, and for his contribution to growth of Indigenous music in Australia. A Pit ...

, a musician, noted for his pioneering fusion of reggae *

Frank Yamma Frank Yamma is a singer and songwriter from Central Australia. He is a Pitjantjatjara man who speaks five languages and sings in both Pitjantjatjara and English. Yamma is the son of Issac Yamma, an early artist who pioneered singing Western styl ...

, an early proponent of singing Western style songs in traditional language *

Isaac Yamma Isaac Yamma (or Yama) (1940 – January 1990) was a country singer from Central Australia. He was a Pitjantjatjara man who was born by a waterhole near Docker River (Kaltukatjara). He started his musical career as a member of Areyonga Desert Tig ...

, a country singer *

Harold Allison Harold Allison (born 10 July 1930) was an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seats of Mount Gambier from 1975 to 1993 and Gordon from 1993 to 1997 for the Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of man ...

, initiated as a member of the Pitjantjatjara shortly after becoming Minister of Aboriginal Affairs

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * (reprint) * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Ngapartji
Online course of Pitjantjatjara language, and related performance event
Web portal for Anangu Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra peoples, communities and organisations

Yalata Land Management

Pitjantjatjara entry in the AusAnthrop database

Pitjantjatjara People at ''Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements'' (ATNS)
{{Authority control Native title in Australia