Wingellina or Irrunytju Community is a small

Indigenous Australian 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 ...

community 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 ...

located about north east of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

near the Western Australian-South Australian border in the

Goldfields–Esperance The Goldfields–Esperance region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the south-eastern corner of Western Australia, and comprises the local government areas of Coolgardie, Dundas, Esperance, Kalgoorlie–Boul ...

region of Western Australia. The local language of Wingellina is

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 v ...

. Surrounded by large

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

hills with mulga and mallee country, the community maintains many traditional activities such as hunting and gathering

bush tucker Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and historically eaten by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora, fauna, or fungi used for culinary or medicinal ...

as well as making many carved wooden artefacts. The community is situated southwest of the

Surveyor Generals Corner Surveyor Generals Corner (or Surveyor-Generals Corner) is the point where the Australian state boundaries of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory meet. These boundaries meet at the easternmost point of the approximate ...

near the border in the

Gibson Desert The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost pristine state. It is about in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The ...

and

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 ...

between 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 ...

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 ...

and Western Australia.

History

The community was established in the 1980s and was composed mainly of people from the Warburton mission. These people still have spiritual and ancestral ties to many parts of the region. Like other communities in the area, many came from South Australia because of rocket testing at Woomera.

Town planning

Wingellina Layout Plan No.1 has been prepared in accordance with State Planning Policy 3.2 Aboriginal Settlements. It currently exists in draft format only, having not been endorsed by the community. The map set is viewable at Planning Western Australia's website.

Native title

The community is located within the determined

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 ...

Lands (Part A) native title claim (WC04/3).

References

External links

Native Title Claimant application summary
{{authority control Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku Aboriginal communities in Goldfields–Esperance