Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara South Australia |
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Location of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara
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Population | 2,230 (2006 Census) | ||||||||||||
• Density | 0.02172/km2 (0.05627/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
Established | 1981 | ||||||||||||
Area | 102,650 km2 (39,633.4 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
Mayor | Bernard Singer | ||||||||||||
Council seat | Umuwa | ||||||||||||
Region | Far North | ||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Giles | ||||||||||||
Federal Division(s) | Grey | ||||||||||||
Website | Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara | ||||||||||||
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Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) is a large Aboriginal local government area located in the remote north west of South Australia. It consists of the Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra aṉangu (i.e. people), and has a population of around 2500 people.
The Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people (aṉangu) had lived in this area for many thousands of years.
After the British began to colonise the Australian continent from 1788 onwards, the aṉangu remained more or less undisturbed for many more years, apart from very occasional encounters with a variety of European explorers.
In 1921, with white settlement now beginning to encroach on the aṉangu's traditional land, the South Australian Government proclaimed the North-West Aboriginal Reserve. This Reserve consisted of most is what is now known as the APY Lands, with the exception of the eastern part of the APY Lands, which was given over to pastoral leases to Europeans.
In 1937, the Presbyterian Church established the Ernabella Mission on the Lands at the place that is now known as the community of Pukatja.
By the 1950s, many aṉangu were living at the Ernabella Mission, while many others lived at camps on pastoral leases on what are now the Lands, or nearby, where they would work. Those pastoral leases included Granite Downs, Everard Park, Victory Downs, De Rose Hill, Kenmore Park, and Mount Cavanagh.
In 1961, to prevent overcrowding at Ernabella Mission, the Church established what became the community of Amata, but which was originally known as Musgrave Park. At the same time the Church also established what is now the community of Kaltjiti, but which was then known as Fregon.
In 1968, what is now the community of Indulkana was established by the South Australian Government, as a base from which to provide welfare services to aṉangu living in camps on pastoral leases, where work was becoming increasingly difficult to find. At that time, the surrounding area was excised from pastoral leases and declared the Indulkana Aboriginal Reserve.