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Yalata, South Australia

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Yalata
South Australia
Yalata township looking north-east
Yalata is located in South Australia
Yalata
Yalata
Coordinates31°23′03″S 131°37′14″E / 31.384108°S 131.620547°E / -31.384108; 131.620547[1]
Population302 (UCL 2021)[2]
EstablishedMission: 1954, 1994.[citation needed]
Locality: 23 October 2003[3]
Postcode(s)5690
Elevation90 m (295 ft)[citation needed]
Area4563 km2 (1762 sq mi)[citation needed]
Time zoneACST (UTC+9:30)
 • Summer (DST)ACDT (UTC+10:30)
Location
  • 982 km (610 mi) by road and 738 km (459 mi) direct, north-west of Adelaide[4]
  • 206 km (128 mi) by road and 189 km (117 mi) direct, west-north-west of Ceduna[4]
  • 95 km (59 mi) by road and 88 km (55 mi) direct, east of the WA-SA border[4]
LGA(s)Aboriginal Council of Yalata
RegionEyre Western[1]
CountyHopetoun (part)[1]
State electorate(s)Flinders[5]
Federal division(s)Grey[6]
Mean max temp[7] Mean min temp[7] Annual rainfall[7]
23.8 °C
75 °F		 10.8 °C
51 °F		 252.6 mm
9.9 in
Localities around Yalata:
Nullarbor Nullarbor
Yellabinna		 Yellabinna
Chundaria
Nullarbor Yalata Yellabinna
Mitchidy Moola
Great Australian Bight Great Australian Bight
Coorabie
Fowlers Bay		 Mitchidy Moola
Fowlers Bay
FootnotesAdjoining localities[1]

Yalata (/ˈjælətɑː/ yal-ə-TAH), in the isolated far west of South Australia, is both an Indigenous Protected Area and, within that, a township of the same name where an Aboriginal community lives. The township is 206 kilometres (128 mi) west of Ceduna – the nearest town – via the Eyre Highway, and 982 kilometres (610 miles) by road from the state capital, Adelaide. It lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people. The settlement began as Yalata Mission in the early 1950s when Pila Nguru people were moved from Ooldea Mission when that closed, after previously being moved from their land in the Great Victoria Desert owing to nuclear testing by the British Government. The old Colona sheep station nearby is now part of Yalata Indigenous Protected Area.

The Atlas of South Australia describes the Yalata area as:[9]

...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.

Demography

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In the 2021 census, the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area, including the Yalata township, had a population of 313 and the township's population was 302 – an increase of 54 or 22 per cent from the 2016 census – of whom 277 were Aboriginal.[8] The population habitually fluctuates, up to about 500, depending on cultural business, seasons and other factors.[10] Pitjantjatja was spoken as the primary language in 77.0% of homes in the Yalata area,[8] specifically a southern dialect.[11][10] Stated religious affiliation of residents was Lutheran 57.2%, Australian Aboriginal traditional religions 4.5%, and Anglican 1.0%; 23.6% made no statement as to religion and 11.8% stated "no religion".[8]

History

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Yalata lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people.[12] Decades after the European settlement of South Australia began in 1836, a 5000 ha (12,000-acre) sheep station known as Yalata station was established, with its homestead built in 1880 on a high hill inland from Fowlers Bay, where there was then a town known as Yalata. Its land stretched from the Nullarbor Plain across to Point Brown near Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula. The huge sheep station ran up to 120,000 sheep at times.[13]

In the 1950s, areas around Maralinga and Emu were used for nuclear testing by the British Government. Around this time the Australian Government resumed much Anangu land to be used for the Woomera Rocket testing Range. Aboriginal people in the area, who were Pila Nguru (Spinifex people, of the Great Victoria Desert) were moved to a United Aborigines Mission (UAM) at Ooldea, before that closed in 1952 due to internal divisions. The people did not want to move from there, as they were used to ranging the desert, and had used the Ooldea Soak as a water source for many generations.[14][15]

In 1951 South Australian Government bought the entire Yalata sheep station, including its 7000 sheep,[14] "for the benefit and use of aborigines", and in 1954 turned the whole area, other than two sections, into an Aboriginal reserve under the South Australian Aborigines Protection Board. The "spiritual welfare and education" of the Aboriginal people were handed over to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia, South Australian District, who would also run the property as a sheep station, with the remaining more than 6000 sheep. The Board would contribute to the cost of caring for the people, and take care of their medical needs, and hoped to establish "a worthy institution".[16]

A group of Ooldea people who were in the process of moving themselves to Ernabella and many others were forcibly removed to Yalata, which was an environment quite alien to them.[14] Missionaries from the Koonibba Mission assisted with the move to the reserve, where the Ooldea people remained for two years before the Yalata Mission was created.[17] Before the mission was set up, the Lutherans were concerned that having a different denomination such as the UAM running a mission so close to Koonibba would confuse the Aboriginal people who would inevitably move between the two, as the teachings were different.[18] The Lutheran missionaries planned to teach the mission residents how to raise sheep, and the mission would be run in conjunction with Koonibba.[19] The government would take about 50% of the gross income of the station.[20]

The mission included administrative buildings, a school and a store. Residents lived in two camps: the "Big Camp" moved around the reserve at different times of the year, while Aboriginal mission workers and their families", and some of the elderly or sick residents lived in the "Little Camp".[17]

By 1969, many of the 300 people living at the mission were working on the nearby Colona Station[21] (which by around 2007 was part of the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area).[22]

In 1974 the Yalata Community Council took over the whole reserve, and the mission ceased operation as a mission.[17]

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 4580 km2 (1770 sq mi) and span approximately 150 km (93 mi) of the Eyre Highway. Inland Anangu resettled on the land in 1995 and formed a community at Oak Valley. Regular movement of Anangu between Yalata and Oak Valley continued to occur.[clarification needed]

Yalata Roadhouse was closed in 2006.[23]

In August 2007, fire destroyed the shed-structure police station and associated home, with damage estimated at A$500,000.[24]

In July 2018, a unit of the Australian Army were posted in Yalata charged with building a new staff house and a child care centre; roadworks; upgrading the caravan park; and safely demolishing the old asbestos-riddled Yalata roadhouse.[25]

Governance

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Yalata is governed at the local level by the Yalata Community Council, one of the several local government bodies in South Australia classified as Aboriginal Councils (AC).[26] Yalata Land is held in trust under the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966 and covers an area of 456,300 ha (1,128,000 acres).[10]

At the state and federal levels, Yalata lies in the electoral district of Flinders and at the division of Grey, respectively.[27]

Facilities

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There is a caravan park to assist tourists passing through or visiting the Great Australian Bight for fishing or whale watching.[28][25]

Yalata Anangu School provides R-12 education.[29][30]

Yalata Mission Airport is a single-runway airstrip that serves the community and nearby lands.[31]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Search results for 'Yalata, LOCB' with the following datasets selected – 'Suburbs and localities', 'Counties', 'Local Government Areas', 'SA Government Regions' and 'Gazetteer'". Location SA Map Viewer. South Australian Government. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  2. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Yalata (urban centre and locality)". Australian Census 2021.  
  3. ^ "Geographical Names Act 1991 Notice to assign names and boundaries to places" (PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South AustralIA. 23 October 2003. p. 3859. Retrieved 14 April 2019. Assign the names Yunta, Blinman, Bookabie, Glendambo, Yalata, Kingoonya, Olary, Innamincka, and Manna Hill to those areas Out of Councils and shown numbered 1 to 9 on Rack Plan 857 (Sheet 3)
  4. ^ a b c "Yalata" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  5. ^ "District of Flinders Background Profile". Electoral Commission SA. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Profile of the electoral division of Grey (SA)". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  7. ^ a b c "Monthly climate statistics: Summary statistics Nullarbor (nearest weather station)". Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Yalata (suburbs and localities)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 15 October 2024.  
  9. ^ McCaskill, Murray, 1926-; Griffin, Trevor, 1935-; Wakefield Press; South Australia Jubilee 150 Board (1986), Atlas of South Australia, South Australian Govt. Printing Division in association with Wakefield Press on behalf of the South Australia Jubilee 150 Board, ISBN 978-0-7243-4696-7{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b c "Alinytljara Wiluṟara: Our communities". Landscape South Australia. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  11. ^ "Yalata Land Management". Retrieved 18 May 2006.
  12. ^ Horton, David R. (1996). "Map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  13. ^ "Old Yalata Homestead Ruins – SA". ExplorOz. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  14. ^ a b c Brady, Maggie (1999). "The politics of space and mobility: controlling the Ooldea/Yalata Aborigines, 1952–1982". Aboriginal History. 23. ANU Press: 1–14. ISSN 0314-8769. JSTOR 24046757. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Ooldea Mission (1933-1952)". Find & Connect. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  16. ^ Aborigines Protection Board (South Australia) (1955). Report of the Aborigines Protection Board for the Year ended 30th June, 1954 (PDF) (Report). p. 5. Retrieved 18 October 2021 – via AIATSIS.
  17. ^ a b c "Yalata Mission (1954-1974)". Find & Connect. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  18. ^ "Hitch in Govt. plans for Ooldea natives". The Mail (Adelaide). Vol. 41, no. 2, 066. South Australia. 5 January 1952. p. 1. Retrieved 18 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ "Natives To Learn Sheep Raising". The Advertiser. Vol. 97, no. 29, 864. Adelaide. 2 July 1954. p. 4. Retrieved 18 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ "Church To Take Over Yalata As Mission Station". The Advertiser. Vol. 96, no. 29, 760. Adelaide. 2 March 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 18 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. ^ "A very advanced experiment". The Canberra Times. Vol. 44, no. 12, 460. 5 November 1969. p. 2. Retrieved 18 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. ^ Neagle, N. (2009). "A Biological Survey of the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area, South Australia, 2007 – 2008" (PDF). Department for Environment and Heritage, South Australia. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  23. ^ "Lease issues close roadhouse". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  24. ^ Fire destroys police station, Adelaide Advertiser, 21 August 2007 Retrieved on 21 August 2007
  25. ^ a b "Australian Army in Yalata". ABC Eyre Peninsula. Retrieved 18 October 2021 – via Facebook.
  26. ^ "Aboriginal and outback communities". LGA South Australia. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  27. ^ "Yalata, 5690". Location SA. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  28. ^ "Yalata". Nullarbor Net. Retrieved 21 May 2006.
  29. ^ "Yalata Anangu School". My School. 30 June 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  30. ^ "Department for Education". Yalata Anangu School. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  31. ^ "Yalata Mission Airport (KYI)". World Airport Codes. Retrieved 18 October 2021.

Further reading

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  Media related to Yalata, South Australia at Wikimedia Commons

  • Yalata (Local Government Association of South Australia website)
  • "Yalata". South Australia For Everyone.
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