Kaltjiti, South Australia
Encyclopedia
Kaltjiti 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, Ernabella/ Pukatja, Pipalyatjara
, Indulkana
and Mimili).
and lies west of the Everard Ranges
. Kaltjiti is also situated approximately 137 kilometres from Stuart Highway
. Kaltjiti lies directly south of Umuwa and Ernabella/ Pukatja.The community straddles the Officer Creek
, which in turn flows from South Australia's
highest mountain
, Mount Woodroffe
. The creek is usually a dry sandy bed and only flows at times of very high rainfall.
Annual rainfall averages 222.6 millimetres.
' 1999 Yearbook indicated population counts of 268 (in 1986), 310 (1991) and 299 (1996).
. In September 1873 during his second trip into the South Australian
interior, he and another party member, William Tietkens, encountered 200 male Aborigines
. The Europeans fired shots, allegedly in retaliation for the throwing of spears. The Europeans escaped unharmed - there is no mention of Aboriginal
casualties. Giles later acknowledged that Aboriginal
aggression was usually due to white trespass on black land. Giles named the river where this occurred "The Officer", by which it was known until the 1930s when it was renamed Officer Creek.
Harold Brown established the first European settlement in 1934 when he was granted the water permit for the Shirley Well block, 60 kilometres south of Ernabella. The well on the north side of the Officer creek was dug near the existing bore and the Browns built their house on the south side.
The South Australian Government resumed Brown's lease in 1939, and Ernabella gained grazing rights there. After the abortive attempt in 1957 to jointly establish outstations west of Ernabella, it was decided in 1960 to establish an outstation on the Shirley Well block under the umbrella of Ernabella. Aboriginal
people were camped at Shirley Well permanently, which made it easy to expand the sheep industry to include this area.
Fregon was built with government assistance in 1961 as a base for cattlemen and their families. According to tradition, the community took the name "Fregon" at that time in honour of a Mrs Fregon of Victoria who donated £5-10,000 to help missionaries establish a bore at the site. A site was chosen 4-5 kilometres south of Shirley Well on the Officer Creek about 60 kilometres south west of Ernabella. The aim of the outstation was to provide training in cattle work and for the families to have access to traditional country in the sandhills to the west. Fregon was administered through Ernabella and it was not until 1968 that it had its own airstrip. It began with a school, a small hospital, a workshop, a small store and staff houses. There were four staff members including a schoolteacher, a nursing sister, an overseer and a cattle manager.
Tuberculosis
wiped out the cattle industry and transport business in the 1980s.
Diesel power generation facilities supply power to the community.
Water is provided from 4 bores and placed in storage tanks for pumping to the community.
Kaltjiti has the Aparawatatja Anangu
school (Aparawatatja was the name of the community council formed when Fregon (later Kaltjiti) was incorporated in 1973).
Technical and further education ("TAFE" for short) opportunities are provided to the community.
There is a health facility run by Nganampa Health with a doctor based at the Kaltjiti clinic.
There is a general store supplied fortnightly via road train and forming the main supply for the APY Lands
.
Kaltjiti has an Australian Rules Football
field and a basketball
court with night lights.
The community runs the Kaltjiti Arts and Crafts.
Kaltjiti does not have a permanent police presence. South Australian police are based at Marla and run patrols in the area. There is a rudimentary shed structure that serves as a police station when police are present. The community is served in the absence of SA Police with 1 community constable.
As with most APY settlements, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
and Special Broadcasting Service
television are available.
The Uniting Church in Australia
has a congregation in Kaltjiti.
A mobile polling booth visits Kaltjiti every 4 years for elections of the Parliament of South Australia
.
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
.
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara is a large Aboriginal local government area located in the remote north west of South Australia...
in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Amata, Ernabella/ Pukatja, Pipalyatjara
Pipalyatjara, South Australia
Pipalyatjara is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands"...
, Indulkana
Indulkana, South Australia
Indulkana is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands"...
and Mimili).
Geography
Kaltjiti (26.765°S 132.0333°E) is situated approximately 45 kilometres south of the Musgrave RangesMusgrave Ranges
Musgrave Ranges is a mountain range in Central Australia, straddling the boundary of South Australia and the Northern Territory , extending into Western Australia. It is between the Great Victoria Desert to the south and the Gibson Desert to the north...
and lies west of the Everard Ranges
Everard Ranges
The Everard Ranges are ranges of low rounded granite hills, of Palaeocene origin between 20 and 60 million years ago, in Central Australia and located 80 km west of Mintabie...
. Kaltjiti is also situated approximately 137 kilometres from Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway
The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south—a distance of...
. Kaltjiti lies directly south of Umuwa and Ernabella/ Pukatja.The community straddles the Officer Creek
Officer Creek, South Australia
Officer Creek is an ephemeral watercourse which runs from the Musgrave Ranges in the north-west of South Australia through the Aboriginal community of Kaltjiti in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands...
, which in turn flows from South Australia's
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
highest mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
, Mount Woodroffe
Mount Woodroffe
Mount Woodroffe is South Australia's highest peak, at 1,435 metres.- Cultural Significance :The mountain is known to the Pitjantjatjara Indigenous Australians as Ngarutjaranya....
. The creek is usually a dry sandy bed and only flows at times of very high rainfall.
Climate
Based on the climate records from Marla, Kaltjiti experiences summer maximum temperatures of an average of 37.1 degrees celsius in January and a winter maximum average temperature of 19.7 degrees celsius in June. Overnight lows range from a mean minimum temperature of 21.8 degrees in January to 5.0 degrees in June.Annual rainfall averages 222.6 millimetres.
Population
Kaltjiti's population is approximately 350 people. The Australian Bureau of StatisticsAustralian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It was created as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 of the Constitution of Australia...
' 1999 Yearbook indicated population counts of 268 (in 1986), 310 (1991) and 299 (1996).
History
The first recording by non-indigenous Australians of a community at Kaltjiti was by Ernest GilesErnest Giles
William Ernest Powell Giles , best known as Ernest Giles, was an Australian explorer who led three major expeditions in central Australia.- Early life :...
. In September 1873 during his second trip into the South Australian
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
interior, he and another party member, William Tietkens, encountered 200 male Aborigines
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
. The Europeans fired shots, allegedly in retaliation for the throwing of spears. The Europeans escaped unharmed - there is no mention of Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
casualties. Giles later acknowledged that Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
aggression was usually due to white trespass on black land. Giles named the river where this occurred "The Officer", by which it was known until the 1930s when it was renamed Officer Creek.
Harold Brown established the first European settlement in 1934 when he was granted the water permit for the Shirley Well block, 60 kilometres south of Ernabella. The well on the north side of the Officer creek was dug near the existing bore and the Browns built their house on the south side.
Brown and his colleague Allan Brumby had been encouraged by R. M. WilliamsR. M. WilliamsReginald Murray Williams AO, CMG was an Australian bushman and entrepreneur who rose from a swagman, to a millionaire. Widely known as just 'R.M.', he was born at Belalie North near Jamestown in the Mid North, 200 kilometres north of Adelaide, into a pioneering settler family working and training...
’ stories (of successfully hunting dingoes to facilitate a cull encouraged by Government bounties for dingo scalps) to take up "dogging" themselves. In about 1929 they headed west on a dogging and
prospecting trip that took them through the MusgraveMusgrave RangesMusgrave Ranges is a mountain range in Central Australia, straddling the boundary of South Australia and the Northern Territory , extending into Western Australia. It is between the Great Victoria Desert to the south and the Gibson Desert to the north...
and Mann Ranges and as far as Ayers’ RockUluruUluru , also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs; by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park....
. They climbed the rock and left a message in a bottle for the next
visitors. By the early 1930s Brown had established a base-camp in the Petermann Ranges and was dogging as far west as the Rawlinson and Warburton Ranges. Brown sank a successful well near Officer CreekOfficer Creek, South AustraliaOfficer Creek is an ephemeral watercourse which runs from the Musgrave Ranges in the north-west of South Australia through the Aboriginal community of Kaltjiti in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands...
, south of the Musgrave RangesMusgrave RangesMusgrave Ranges is a mountain range in Central Australia, straddling the boundary of South Australia and the Northern Territory , extending into Western Australia. It is between the Great Victoria Desert to the south and the Gibson Desert to the north...
, and
claimed the government reward. He constructed a mud hut and a dug-out dwelling at
Shirley Well and ran some sheep, but continued to make long dogging trips
westwards. Brown had an AboriginalIndigenous AustraliansIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
wife and several children but in 1934 he married a white woman in Alice Springs. He abandoned his Aboriginal wife and their children,
and his new wife joined him at Shirley Well.
The South Australian Government resumed Brown's lease in 1939, and Ernabella gained grazing rights there. After the abortive attempt in 1957 to jointly establish outstations west of Ernabella, it was decided in 1960 to establish an outstation on the Shirley Well block under the umbrella of Ernabella. Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
people were camped at Shirley Well permanently, which made it easy to expand the sheep industry to include this area.
Fregon was built with government assistance in 1961 as a base for cattlemen and their families. According to tradition, the community took the name "Fregon" at that time in honour of a Mrs Fregon of Victoria who donated £5-10,000 to help missionaries establish a bore at the site. A site was chosen 4-5 kilometres south of Shirley Well on the Officer Creek about 60 kilometres south west of Ernabella. The aim of the outstation was to provide training in cattle work and for the families to have access to traditional country in the sandhills to the west. Fregon was administered through Ernabella and it was not until 1968 that it had its own airstrip. It began with a school, a small hospital, a workshop, a small store and staff houses. There were four staff members including a schoolteacher, a nursing sister, an overseer and a cattle manager.
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
wiped out the cattle industry and transport business in the 1980s.
Facilities
Kaltjiti has an airstrip (to which mail is delivered twice a week).Diesel power generation facilities supply power to the community.
Water is provided from 4 bores and placed in storage tanks for pumping to the community.
Kaltjiti has the Aparawatatja Anangu
Anangu
Anangu, more accurately "Aṉaŋu" or "Arnangu" is a word found in a number of eastern varieties of the Western Desert Language , an Australian Aboriginal language of the Pama–Nyungan family, spoken in the desert regions of western and central Australia. Before the arrival of non-Aboriginal people in...
school (Aparawatatja was the name of the community council formed when Fregon (later Kaltjiti) was incorporated in 1973).
Technical and further education ("TAFE" for short) opportunities are provided to the community.
There is a health facility run by Nganampa Health with a doctor based at the Kaltjiti clinic.
There is a general store supplied fortnightly via road train and forming the main supply for the APY Lands
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara is a large Aboriginal local government area located in the remote north west of South Australia...
.
Kaltjiti has an Australian Rules Football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
field and a basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
court with night lights.
The community runs the Kaltjiti Arts and Crafts.
Kaltjiti does not have a permanent police presence. South Australian police are based at Marla and run patrols in the area. There is a rudimentary shed structure that serves as a police station when police are present. The community is served in the absence of SA Police with 1 community constable.
As with most APY settlements, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
and Special Broadcasting Service
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
television are available.
The Uniting Church in Australia
Uniting Church in Australia
The Uniting Church in Australia was formed on 22 June 1977 when many congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, the Presbyterian Church of Australia and the Congregational Union of Australia came together under the Basis of Union....
has a congregation in Kaltjiti.
A mobile polling booth visits Kaltjiti every 4 years for elections of the Parliament of South Australia
Parliament of South Australia
The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly. It follows a Westminster system of parliamentary government....
.
A permit is required for a member of the public to visit any community on the APY Lands, as they are freehold
Fee simple
In English law, a fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way that real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved...
lands owned by the Aboriginal people
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
.
Footnotes
Mail is delivered once a week on Thursdays by airplane.
The electricity for the town is now connected to the grid with power coming from near Umuwa.