Titjikala (also known as Tapatjatjaka and formerly known as " Maryvale", after the cattle station at the community of the same name) is an Aboriginal community in the south of 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 ...

of Australia. At the , Titjikala had a population of 201.

Geography

In Aboriginal tradition, the

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have right ...

of the Titjikala area owned an area extending from

Horseshoe Bend Horseshoe Bend may refer to: Places Australia * Horseshoe Bend, New South Wales, an inner city suburb in the City of Maitland in the Hunter Region * Horseshoe Bend Station, a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Alice Sprin ...

through to Chambers Pillar, the Titjikala community area, and then across to Mount Burrell, Mount Peachy, and to Mount Frank. Titjakala is about 100 km by mainly unsealed road south-east from Alice Springs, which is the main access road to the community. Titjikala is situated in the

Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Australian desert, with an area of . The desert is underlain by the ...

, which occupies much of the southern portion of the

. Nowadays, Titjikala is situated within the boundaries of

Maryvale Station Maryvale Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is situated about south of Alice Springs and east of Yulara. The ephemeral Finke and the Hugh River both flow through the ...

, a cattle station. Chambers Pillar is a spectacular landmark, a multi-coloured rock column some 40 kilometres away from the site.

Climate

No specific weather records are kept for Titjikala. The nearest weather station was located to the southeast at Finke from 1932 to 1980, when it was decommissioned. Finke experienced summer maximum temperatures of an average of 37.5 degrees Celsius in January and a winter maximum average temperature of 19.9 degrees Celsius in July. Overnight lows range from a mean minimum temperature of 22.8 degrees in January to 5.6 degrees in July. Annual rainfall averages 188.8 millimetres.

Population

The Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded a population of 201 people (with 94% being of Aboriginal background) in the 2011 Census. That represented a decrease since the 2006 census from 219 people. 26.1% of the residents were below 15 years of age, and 2% aged over 65 years of age. Median weekly income was $276, some $70–80 more than other Aboriginal communities but still far short of larger white settlements. Tapatjatjaka Community, on their website, state:

There are also people who have been living in the Titjikala area for several generations, but whose family members came from other areas. Their children, having been born in this area, are connected to its dreaming. Consequently, Titjikala has become the home to
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Australi ...
(traditional owners), Luritja and
Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are va ...
people.

The above demonstrates the natural interconnection between language and cultural identity in

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 ...

culture.

Languages

Traditional languages are Luritja,

Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Australi ...

Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are va ...

. Arrernte is said to be the language of the traditional owners of the land. English is spoken in varying degrees of fluency.

History

Tapatjatjaka Community, on their website, gives the following history:

From the 1940s onwards families came to the
Maryvale Station Maryvale Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is situated about south of Alice Springs and east of Yulara. The ephemeral Finke and the Hugh River both flow through the ...
to work as stockmen and as domestic helpers. The station owners provided rations to the people who resided and worked on their stations. Aboriginal people started settling in the area in the 1950s, when a mission truck visited every six weeks. Families would work at the surrounding stations as stockman, cameleers and domestic staff. At this time the people still lived in traditional humpies. Water was fetched from a well mainly by donkey wagons, but also by foot or by camel. Children and women would travel back and forwards most of the day collecting water from the well and carrying it to the
humpy A humpy, also known as a gunyah, wurley, wurly or wurlie, is a small, temporary shelter, traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people. These impermanent dwellings, made of branches and bark, are sometimes called a lean-to, since they oft ...
area. The community obtained its food from rations from the station (flour, salt and meat). People also collected bush tucker including
goanna A goanna is any one of several species of lizards of the genus '' Varanus'' found in Australia and Southeast Asia. Around 70 species of ''Varanus'' are known, 25 of which are found in Australia. This varied group of carnivorous reptiles ranges ...
s,
kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...
s,
witchetty grub The witchetty grub (also spelled witchety grub or witjuti grub) is a term used in Australia for the large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths. In particular, it applies to the larvae of the cossid moth ''Endoxyla leucomochla'', which fee ...
s,
bush tomato Bush tomatoes are the fruit or entire plants of certain nightshade (''Solanum'') species native to the more arid parts of Australia. While they are quite closely related to tomatoes (''Solanum lycopersicum''), they might be even closer relatives ...
es and bush bananas. Then in the early 1960s the community built their own sheds, much like garages, with
concrete slab A concrete slab is a common structural element of modern buildings, consisting of a flat, horizontal surface made of cast concrete. Steel- reinforced slabs, typically between 100 and 500 mm thick, are most often used to construct floors and ...
s for flooring. At this time the station laid piping from a good bore with the help of the Aboriginal people to provide a tap near the new buildings. As part of the village a
church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...
was built in the same garage style. In the 1970s the first
school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...
was provided to the Titjikala people. The community was originally a 200-hectare excision from the Francis Well water reserve and the
stock route A stock route, also known as travelling stock route (TSR), is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic livestock such as sheep or cattle from one location to another in Australia. The stock routes across the country are colloquially ...
. It is within the Maryvale station pastoral lease, which was registered in 1978. Titjikala community obtained
freehold title In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., per ...
to the excision in 1987 and in 1988 the
Northern Territory Government The Government of the Northern Territory of Australia, also referred to as the Northern Territory Government, is the Australian territorial democratic administrative authority of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory wa ...
gazetted the Titjikala control Plan, which places certain restrictions on land usage and development in the community.

Current events

Titjikala was visited on 28 June 2007 by one of the Howard

Commonwealth 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 ...

's "scoping teams" (comprising federal

bureaucrats A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government. The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", w ...

, social / health workers, police and soldiers), sent to enforce a "crackdown" on sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities. Commonwealth Minister for Aboriginal Affairs,

Mal Brough Malcolm Thomas Brough ( ; born 29 December 1961) is a former Australian politician. He represented the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives (1996–2007, 2013–2016) and held ministerial office in the Howard and Turnbull Governments. ...

said that the Government's "crackdown" on sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities would begin with five communities, comprising Titjikala,

Mutitjulu Mutitjulu is an Aboriginal Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia located at the eastern end of Uluṟu (also known as Ayers Rock). It is named after a knee-shaped water-filled rock hole at the base of Uluṟu, and is loc ...

Imanpa Imanpa is a community in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is seven kilometres north of the Lasseter Highway, the main road running between the Stuart Highway and Uluru (Ayers Rock). Imanpa lies 160 kilometres east of Uluru and 200 kilomet ...

, Aputula, and Santa Teresa.

Facilities

Access to Titjikala is by road or air. The roads and the airstrip can be washed out during heavy rains.Titjikala
Gunya Titjikala is a tourist resort operated by Gunya Tourism at Titjikala. ("Gunya" is another word for "humpie" or shelter.) Profits are delivered to the community through a trust account arrangement. Gunya Titjikala is unique in being funded through a private loan by

Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's t ...

executive Bill Moss, who provided $400,000 to start operations. The

Indigenous Land Council Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

has also contributed $250,000 in venture capital. The Australian newspaper reported on 9 October 2007 that Gunya had suspended operations due to the cancellation of the Community Development Employment Program as part of the Howard Government's

Northern Territory National Emergency Response The Northern Territory National Emergency Response, also known as "The Intervention" or the Northern Territory Intervention, and sometimes the abbreviation "NTER" (for Northern Territory Emergency Response) was a package of measures enforced by ...

interventions in the

. Titjikala has a general store, school, women's centre, indigenous arts centre, early learning centre, aged care program, laundry, mechanical workshop, basketball court, health clinic and

Centrelink The Centrelink Master Program, or more commonly known as Centrelink, is a Services Australia master program of the Australian Government. It delivers a range of government payments and services for retirees, the Unemployment, unemployed, f ...

agent. A primary school exists at Titjikala. Titjikala and its surrounds are governed by the Tapatjatjaka Community Government Council. The council has a budget of approximately $4m and employs 26 people.LGA NT Website
A

Lutheran 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 ...

church is based in Titjikala. The Lutheran Church has had a long association with the Titjikala community. There is no continuous Northern Territory police presence or police station in the community. A permit is not required for a member of the public to visit Titjikala. Alcohol is banned from Titjikala and severe penalties apply for those taking alcohol into the community.

Notable people

* Sally M. Nangala Mulda, artist, born in Titjikala

Footnotes

External links

Titjikala Art Centre

Gunya

Tapatjatjaka Community Website

Tapatjatjaka Local Government Area entry - Local Government Association of the Northern Territory
* {{authority control Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory Australian Aboriginal missions MacDonnell Region