Watarru Community is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

(one of a number of communities or homelands on "The Lands"; others include

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 ...

, Ernabella/

Pukatja Pukatja (formerly Ernabella, ) is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Pipalyatjara, Fregon/ Kaltji ...

, Fregon/

Kaltjiti Kaltjiti (formerly Fregon) is an Aboriginal community in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY lands) in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Pukatja, Pipalyatjara, Indulkana ...

, Indulkana,

Kalka Kalka is a town in the Panchkula district of Haryana, India. It is near Panchkula city. The name of the town is derived from the Hindu goddess Kali. Kalka is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas and is a gateway to the neighbouring st ...

and

Mimili Mimili is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Pukatja, Kaltjiti, Indulkana and Pipalyatjara). At the ...

). Watarru Community sits at the foot of Mount Lindsay and the community has at times been known as "Mount Lindsay".

Time zone

Due to its links with the

Northern Territory 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 ...

and proximity to the border, the

APY Lands Annual percentage yield (APY) is a normalized representation of an interest rate, based on a compounding period of one year. APY figures allow a reasonable, single-point comparison of different offerings with varying compounding schedules. Howev ...

do not observe daylight savings unlike the rest of South Australia. The time zone observed throughout the year is Australian Central Standard Time ( UTC+9:30), in line with Darwin rather than

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Geography

Watarru Community is situated approximately 550 kilometres south-west of

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

. Watarru is situated at the foot of Mount Lindsay, in the

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explore ...

. Watarru Community is situated within the

Watarru Indigenous Protected Area The Watarru Indigenous Protected Area is an Indigenous Protected Area in the north west corner of South Australia. It covers an area of in the Great Victoria Desert. It is the traditional land of the Pitjantjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra and Yankunytj ...

, which as of June 2001 was the largest sized Declared Indigenous Protected Area (12,800 km², declared 1 September 2000).

Climate

Based upon the climate records of the nearest weather station, at Giles across the border and to the northwest in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, Watarru experiences summer maximum temperatures of an average of 37.2 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 23.5 degrees in January to 6.8 degrees in June. Annual rainfall averages 284.2 millimetres.

Population

Watarru Community's population was 56 people according to the 2001

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 ...

, with 82.1% of those being

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an List of Australian Government entities, Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, Natural environment, environmental, and social issues to advi ...

, 2001 Census
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
/ref> The power station was constructed to cater for a fluctuating population of between 30 and 90 people. The residents are mainly Anangu people.

History

PY Media website waru.org reports:

The Community began to flourish in the early 1990s, after being established by a small family group of Anangu who had returned from other established Communities.waru.org: Watarru
/ref>

Facilities

PY Media website "waru.urg" states:

The local store is provided with fresh produce by road train once a week, a local workshop provides limited services, but only diesel and avgas fuels are available. Persons with petrol driven vehicles are advised to check with their mechanic regarding the use of Avgas in their vehicle. There is a weekly mail delivery by air from Alice Springs on friday; general freight is delivered weekly by road train.

Since the introduction of non-sniffable fuel throughout central Australia, Watarru has stocks of suitable unleaded fuel for cars.

Avgas Avgas (aviation gasoline, also known as aviation spirit in the United Kingdom, UK) is an aviation fuel used in aircraft with spark-ignited internal combustion engines. ''Avgas'' is distinguished from conventional gasoline (petrol) used in moto ...

is no longer available. Watarru has a community office for administration purposes, which also provides an Internet service and a place for co-ordinating the local arts project. Management of the land provides employment opportunities for the Watarru community, managing and monitoring native fauna populations whilst also rounding up, shooting or culling pest species such as camels, foxes and feral cats. The Watarru Anangu school was opened in 1986 and has approximately 25 students. Watarru no longer has an operational medical clinic and does not have a permanent police presence.

South Australian South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which includes some of the most arid parts ...

police are based at

Marla Marla is a town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's north-west about north-west of the state capital of Adelaide and about south of the town of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. History Marla ...

and run patrols in the area. The community has no Indigenous community constables. Electricity is provided to the community using a combination of

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

and a

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

, with the energy stored in batteries.Appropriate Energy web page for Watarru
/ref> Power is also generated by two diesel generators. As with most APY settlements,

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

and

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...

television are available. Watarru also receives the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

affiliated station

Golden West Network Seven Regional WA is an Australian television network serving all of Western Australia outside metropolitan Perth. It launched on 10 March 1967 as BTW-3 in Bunbury, and became known as the Golden West Network (GWN, and later GWN7) in 1979. It ...

from

, as well as

Imparja Imparja Television (IMP) is an independent Australian television station servicing over , across six states and territories of Australia, states and territories: Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Aust ...

television. Subscription television service

Austar Austar was an Australian telecommunications company founded in 1995 as Community Entertainment Television (CETV). Its main business activity was subscription television. It was also involved with internet access and mobile phones. Austar's tel ...

is also available to residents. Residents can vote in elections for the

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat South Australian House of Assembly, House of Assembly (lower house) and the 22-seat South Australian Legislati ...

at a booth that visits

Pipalyatjara Pipalyatjara (formerly Mount Davies) is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Pukatja, Kaltjiti, Indu ...

. A permit is required for a member of the public to visit any community on the APY lands, as they are freehold lands owned by the

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. Entry to any APY community without a permit is an offence, and harsh penalties apply.

Footnotes

External links

* * {{authority control Towns in South Australia Aboriginal communities in South Australia Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara