Warakurna is a large Aboriginal community, located in the Goldfields-Esperance 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 Ngaanyatjarraku The Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku is a remote local government area in Western Australia near the Northern Territory/South Australian border. It is from Perth. It was formed on 1 July 1993 following a report of the Local Government Boundaries Commi ...

and is situated on the

Great Central Road The Great Central Road is a mostly unsealed Australian Australian outback, outback highway that runs from Laverton, Western Australia to Yulara, Northern Territory (near Uluru, Uluru / Ayers Rock). It passes through a number of small communitie ...

(part of the

Outback Way The Outback Highway or Outback Way is a series of roads and dirt tracks linking Laverton, Western Australia and Winton, Queensland. At , it crosses Central Australia (colloquially known as the Outback), passing through Western Australia, the ...

ultimately connecting

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

diagonally across Australia). It is at the western end of the

Rawlinson Ranges Purli Yurliya or Rawlinson Ranges is a mountain range in the far east of central Western Australia, to the west of the Petermann Ranges, with which it is commonly associated. Both features were given their European names by Ernest Giles, the fir ...

. At the , Warakurna had a population of 268, including 237 who identified as

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

, most of whom speak

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 ...

at home.

History

In the early 1970s several factors, including the availability of government funding for outstations, easier road access, and over-crowding at Docker River (Kaltukatjara) settlement and Warburton Mission, all combined to make the location of

Giles Weather Station Giles Weather Station (also referred to as Giles Meteorological Station or Giles) is located in Western Australia near the Northern Territory border, about west-south-west of Alice Springs and west of Uluru. It is the only staffed weather sta ...

ideal for a new community. The Warakurna community became incorporated in 1976 and a member of the

Council in 1981.

Native title

The community is located within the determined

Lands (Part A) (WAD6004/04)

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.

Town planning

Warakurna Layout Plan No.1 was prepared in accordance with State Planning Policy 3.2 Aboriginal Settlements and was endorsed by the community in 2003 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 ...

in 2004.

Facilities

Children of school age at Warakurna attend the Warakurna campus of the

Ngaanyatjarra Lands School 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 ...

which was formed in 2007 by administratively combining nine remote campuses in the Ngaanyatjarra lands. Warakurna campus caters to year nine, then students must transfer to the larger campus at Warburton. The community is serviced by the Giles Airstrip which provides a 24-hour all-weather gravel runway with two services weekly to Alice Springs, and

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

transport as required. It also has a community hall, women's centre, health clinic, football oval, basketball court and 25-metre indoor swimming pool. The first Indigenous-run police station in Western Australia is at Warakurna, set up some years ago and already showing some positive effects. Filmmaker Cornel Ozies, who made a documentary about the station, called ''Our Law'' and shown at the 2020

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

, puts the success of the program down to four things: "respect, understanding, communication, and education". The two

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

police officers learnt the local Ngaanyatjarra language and cultural protocols of the people.

In popular culture

Warakurna is also mentioned in the Midnight Oil song "Warakurna" in their No #1 hit album " Diesel and Dust".

References

External links

Native Title Claimant application summary
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku Aboriginal communities in Goldfields-Esperance