- Pipalyatjara, South Australia
Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Pipalyatjara
state = sa
caption =
lga =Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara
postcode = 5710
est =
pop = 140 (1996 census)
elevation= 652
maxtemp = 37.1
mintemp = 5.0
rainfall = 222.6
stategov = Giles
fedgov = Grey
dist1 = 550
dir1 = southwest
location1=Alice Springs Pipalyatjara 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, Fregon/ Kaltjiti, Indulkana and Mimili).Geography
Pipalyatjara is situated approximately 550 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs on the
Gunbarrel Highway (a rough, unsealed road). Pipalyatjara is approximately 30 kilometres from the junction of the South Australian,Western Australian andNorthern Territory borders (known as the Surveyor-General's Corner). The community of Kalka is situated some 15 kilometres away (by road, on the north side of the mountain ridge to which Pipalyatjara lies to the south). Both communities are situated within theTomkinson Ranges .Climate
Based upon the climate records of the nearest weather station at Giles across the border and slightly to the northwest in
Western Australia , Kalka 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. [Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology data [http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_013017.shtml] ]
Population
Pipalyatjara's population is approximately 140-150 people [
Australian Bureau of Statistics , South Australian Yearbook 1997 [http://abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/featurearticlesbytitle/58CDBD068D22BCFDCA2569DE002139B8?OpenDocument] ] , [ABS 1996 Census of Population and Housing [http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/CA25687100069892CA256889001F11DA/$File/20344_1996.pdf] ] , [Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs [http://www.indigenous.gov.au/sra/sa/fact_sheets/sa03.html] ] .The residents are mainly Anangu people who speak mainly Pitjantjatjara as their first language.
History
Little is known about how the traditional owners and other peoples came to have a settlement at what is now known as Pipalyatjara.
Pipalyatjara was formerly known as Mount Davies, named after the tallest local peak. [Pipalyatjara Community School website; [http://www.pipalyatjara.sa.edu.au/html/comm/comm1.htm] ]
Chrysoprase was mined at Pipalyatjara until recently.Facilities
Pipalyatjara has an airstrip (to which mail is delivered twice a week) and a health facility staffed by 2 nurses, with a doctor from Fregon making regular visits. There are council facilities.
Diesel power generation facilities supply power to the community.
Water is provided from 2 bores and placed in storage tanks for pumping to the community.
The Pipalyatjara Anangu school is a CPC - Year 11 school. Some of the school population come from the Kalka Community, which is situated approximately 15 km from Pipalyatjara. As with the successful programs implemented first at Mimili in October 2006 and Amata in 2007, a
swimming pool is proposed for construction at Pipalyatjara with construction to begin in March 2007 [Premier and Cabinet Policy Document - South Australian Aboriginal Lands Bulletin - March 2007 [http://www.premcab.sa.gov.au/pdf/aard_bulletins/bulletin_swimming_pools_mar07.pdf] ] . The rationale for construction of swimming pools is both to improve public health through the chemicals in the water and regular bathing, but also the incentive to enjoy the facility serving as encouragement to improve school attendance.Technical and Further Education ("TAFE" for short) opportunities are provided to the community.
There is also a general store supplied fortnightly via road train.
The Pipalyatjara Women's Complex also functions as a community recreation hall.
The community runs the Ninuku Arts project. [Ninuku Arts website [http://www.ninukuarts.com.au/] ]
Pipalyatjara has a mechanic workshop to service local vehicles and educate young residents.
Pipalyatjara does not have a permanent police presence.
South Australia 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. [SA Police Association Newsletter, [http://journal.pasa.asn.au/apps/uploadedFiles/news/293/APY_lands.pdf] ] The community is served in the absence of SA Police with 2 community constables.As with most APY settlements,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation andSpecial Broadcasting Service television are available.The
Uniting Church in Australia has a congregation in Pipalyatjara. [UCA List of Congregations [http://ns.uca.org.au/congregations/congregations.html] ]A mobile polling booth visits Pipalyatjara 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.Footnotes
Further external links
*cite web
last =
first =
year =
url = http://www.waru.org/communities/pipalyatjara/
title = PY Media Site : Pipalyatjara community
format = HTML
work =
accessdate = 2007-07-05
*cite web
last =
first =
year =
url = http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=-26.160985,129.166946&spn=0.073648,0.1157&t=h&z=13&om=1
title = Google Maps reference
format = HTML
work =
accessdate = 2007-07-05
*cite web
last =
first =
year =
url = http://pipalyatjara.sa.edu.au/
title = Pipalyatjara School Website
format = HTML
work =
accessdate = 2007-07-05
*cite web
last =
first =
year =
url = http://www.icat.org.au/documents/bt3.pdf
title = Indigenous Centre for Appropriate Technology "Bush Brief" #3
format = HTML
work =
accessdate = 2007-07-05
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