Alpurrurulam, from the original Aboriginal name ''Ilperrelhelame'', also known as Lake Nash, is a locality in the

Northern Territory of Australia 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 ...

located in the territory's east about south-east of the territory capital of Darwin and about east of the municipal seat of

Tennant Creek Tennant Creek () is a town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the Northern Territory#Cities and towns, seventh largest town in the Northern Territory, and is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with ...

and about from the border with the state of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. The town is at the end of the

Sandover Highway The Sandover Highway is an outback unsealed track in the Northern Territory between the Plenty Highway north of Alice Springs and the Northern Territory/Queensland border. Description The highway's name is derived from the Sandover River beca ...

, which floods each year during the

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

and cuts all road access to the community.

History

The waterhole known as Lake Nash to European settlers was used by Aboriginal peoples for millennia, and was called Ilperrelhelame in the

Alyawarre language Arrernte or Aranda (; ), or sometimes referred to as Upper Arrernte (Upper Aranda), is a dialect cluster in the Arandic language group spoken in parts of the Northern Territory, Australia, by the Arrernte people. Other spelling variations are ...

. It has many Dreaming legends attached to it, and the local

Alyawarre The Alyawarre, also spelt Alyawarr and also known as the Iliaura, are an Aboriginal Australian people, or language group, from the Northern Territory. The Alyawarre are made up of roughly 1,200 associated peoples and actively engage in local tra ...

people lived in a traditional way, hunting and foraging and performing their

ceremonies A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil (secular) ceremoni ...

until 1920. Alpurrurulam grew out of disagreement between the owners of Lake Nash Station and the Aboriginal people living near the

Georgina River The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Georg ...

, many of whom worked at the

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

. In the early 1980s it was planned to move the community to Bathurst Downs, which was regarded as “poison country” by the local Alyawarre. In 1982 the community requested some land of their own near the station, addressing the then Chief Minister of the

Northern Territory Government The Northern Territory Government is the executive branch of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory was formed in 1978 with the granting of self-government to the Territory. The Northern Territory is a territory of the Co ...

. After a legal battle, was excised from the

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 ...

of the Lake Nash Station and given back in 1983, forming what is now Alpurrurulam. The Alpurrurulam Land Aboriginal Corporation (ALAC), a board of community elders, was established as landowner. The Alpurrurulam Community Government Council (CGC) was the

local government authority A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phras ...

until 1 July 2008, when there was an amalgamation of councils into a new

shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

framework and the town was absorbed into the Barkly Shire.

Governance and population

Alpurrurulam is located within the federal division of Lingiari, the territory electoral division of Barkly and the local government area of the

Barkly Region The Barkly Region, formerly Barkly Shire, is a Local Government Areas of the Northern Territory, local government area of the Northern Territory of Australia, administered by the Barkly Regional Council. The region's main town is Tennant Creek ...

, in the

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of Alpurrurulam. The town is usually called Alpurrurulam or Lake Nash. The town is mostly referred to as Lake Nash colloquially, and for mail delivery (via

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...

), and Alpurrurulam for all official matters, such as a

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

. The 2016 Australian census which was conducted in August 2016 reports that Alpurrurulam had a population of 420 people of whom 387 (92.1%) identified as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. The people of Alpurrurulam have close historical ties with the people of

Ampilatwatja Ampilatwatja is a small community in the Northern Territory of Australia located northeast of Alice Springs. Governance and description Ampilatwatja is administered by the Barkly Regional Council and is within the Utopia aboriginal homeland. ...

, in

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

Facilities

Services include the Barkly Regional Council Alpurrurulam Service Centre, aged care facilities, night patrol, sport and recreation,

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 unemployed, families, carer ...

, a post office, the Warte Alparayetye community-owned store, Alpurrurulam Community School (to Year 9), and the Rainbow Gateway, a new community development program. Lake Nash AFC are the town's

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

club that plays in the AFL Mount Isa league in

, it has a men's team known as the Young Guns and a women's team known as the Giants. There is an airstrip, with planes departing for Mt Isa for health appointments once a week, and a special mail plane on Fridays. A

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

and a

solar farm A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

with hybrid solar-diesel power system, were installed in 2011–2012.

Notable people

* Elkin Reilly, Australian rules footballer (first Northern Territorian in the

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

)

References

{{authority control Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory