Punmu is an Aboriginal community, located 640 km south east of

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

in the Pilbara region of

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 ...

, within the

Shire of East Pilbara The Shire of East Pilbara is one of the four local government areas in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. With an area of , larger than the Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania combined, it is the largest local government region in A ...

. The Martu language, Manyjiljarra (pronounced Mun-dul-jar-ah), is the first language of all Indigenous people who live in Punmu, and the written language is taught in RAWA Community School. English is learnt by many within the community to communicate effectively, but is not often used between the

Martu people The Martu (Mardu) are a grouping of several Aboriginal Australian peoples in the Western Desert cultural bloc. Name The Martu people were originally speakers of various Wati languages in the Western Desert dialect continuum whose identity coa ...

Native title

The community is located within the determined Martu (WG6110/98)

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, ...

claim area. In 2002, the Martu were awarded native title rights to over 13.6 million hectares of the Western Desert, an area stretching from the Percival Lakes in the north to south of Lake Disappointment, and from near Jigalong and Balfour Downs east to the

Kiwirrkurra Kiwirrkurra, gazetted as Kiwirrkurra Community, is a small community in Western Australia in the Gibson Desert, east of Port Hedland, Western Australia, Port Hedland and west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Alice Springs. It had a popul ...

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 a ...

native title determinations.

Education

Children of school age at Punmu attend the RAWA Community School. The school is made up of the school board, the trainee principal, the principal mentor/administrator, the non-Indigenous teachers, the Aboriginal Education Workers, and specialist teachers. These staff manage, control and teach the school and its 74 students.

Governance

The community is managed through its incorporated body, Punmu Aboriginal Corporation, incorporated under the ''Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976'' on 14 December 1983.

Town planning

Punmu Layout Plan No.2 has been prepared in accordance with State Planning Policy 3.2 Aboriginal Settlements. Layout Plan No.2 was endorsed by the community on 20 June 2007 and the

Western Australian Planning Commission The Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) is an independent statutory authority of the Government of Western Australia that exists to coordinate strategic and statutory planning for future urban, rural and regional land use. The authori ...

on 4 December 2007.

Notes

External links

Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations

Native Title Claimant application summary
* https://archive.today/20130101012556/http://www.rawaschool.com.au/default.htm {{coord, 22, 02, 38, S, 123, 07, 23, E, region:AU-WA_type:city_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Towns in Western Australia Aboriginal communities in Pilbara Shire of East Pilbara