Yalata, South Australia

Yalata South Australia
The former Yalata Roadhouse, 2017
Yalata
Coordinates	31°29′S 131°50′E / 31.48°S 131.84°E / -31.48; 131.84Coordinates: 31°29′S 131°50′E / 31.48°S 131.84°E / -31.48; 131.84
Population	100 (2006 census)
• Density	0.022/km2 (0.057/sq mi)
Established	1994
Elevation	90 m (295 ft)
Area	4,563 km2 (1,761.8 sq mi)
Location	200 km (124 mi) west of Ceduna 292 km (181 mi) from Eucla 281 km (175 mi) from WA-SA border
LGA(s)	Aboriginal Council of Yalata
State electorate(s)	Flinders
Federal Division(s)	Grey
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 23.7 °C 75 °F 10.6 °C 51 °F 250 mm 9.8 in

Yalata is an Aboriginal community located 200 kilometres west of Ceduna on the Great Australian Bight in South Australia.

The community consists mainly of Anangu who lived in the spinifex country far to the north around Ooldea prior to their forced removal to Yalata in 1952. In the 1950s areas around Maralinga and Emu were used for Atomic Testing by the British Government of the day. Around this time the Australian Government resumed much Anangu land to be used for the Woomera Rocket testing Range. As a result, Anangu were moved to Ooldea in the first instance then later moved to the Yalata site. The Maralinga Tjarutja native title land was handed back to the Anangu under legislation passed by both houses of the South Australian Parliament in December 1984 and proclaimed in January 1985. The Yalata Aboriginal lands cover 4,580 km² and span approximately 150 km of the Eyre Highway. Inland Anangu resettled on the land in 1995 and forming a community at Oak Valley. Regular movement of Anangu between Yalata and Oak Valley occurs.

The Atlas of South Australia describes the Yalata area as:

sandy plain with deep sand and parabolic dunes. The vegetative cover is open mallee scrub with a mixed understory of chenopod shrubs and grasses and low open woodland with a chenopod shrub understory.

Anangu regard themselves as a Southern Anangu people and speak a Southern dialect of the Pitjantjatjara language.