Yuendumu, Northern Territory
Encyclopedia
Yuendumu is a town in the Northern Territory
of Australia
. It ranks as one of the larger remote communities in central Australia and has a thriving community of Aboriginal artists
. Yuendumu lies 293 km northwest of Alice Springs on the Tanami Track
, and is a community largely made up of the Warlpiri
Aboriginal people, with a population of 817. Yuendumu is located within the Yuendumu Aboriginal Lands Trust area which includes numerous outstations.
It was established in 1946 by the Native Affairs Branch of the Australian Government to deliver rations and welfare services. In 1947 a Baptist
mission was established there. By 1955 many of the Warlpiri
people had settled in the town. Today, some of the services and facilities available in Yuendumu include three community stores, school, airstrip, swimming pool, the Warlukurlangu art centre, an Aboriginal media organisation (PAW Media), a church, an old people's program, women's centre and safe house. Yuendumu retains links with other Warlpiri communities within the region, including Lajamanu, Willowra and Nyirripi.
Yuendumu hosts its annual sports weekend in the first week of August. The event includes football, basketball and softball competitions, attracting teams from other communities around the region. There is also a 'Battle of the Bands' night which showcases local bands.
, Sheila Brown Napaljarri
, and Judy Watson Napangardi
.
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
ist Kumanjayi Napaljarri Kennedy was a senior woman at Yuendumu, a member of the community council, and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1994, for services to the Yuendumu community. Artist Maggie Napaljarri Ross
has received the Order of Australia
for her work in establishing the Yuendumu Night Patrol.
Warlpiri elders founded the Mount Theo Program in 1993 which has become a model for substance misuse prevention and youth diversion/development in remote Australian communities. In 2007, Johnny Japangardi Miller 'Hooker Creek', Peggy Nampijimpa Brown and Andrew Stojanovski were awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for their efforts in founding the program and 'for service to the community of Yuendumu and the surrounding region of the Northern Territory through programs addressing substance abuse among Indigenous youth'.
Yuendumu leaders who were awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001, which commemorates 100 years of Federation and recognises "citizens and other people who made a contribution to Australian society or government" include Wendy Nungarrayi Brown and Rex Granites. Yuendumu is the home community of indigenous activist Bess Nungarrayi Price
.
For over 25 years the community has also been home to PAW Media (formerly Warlpiri Media), most famously producing 'Bush Mechanics', and also 'Aboriginal Rules' which explored the social meaning of football in remote communities.
Yuendumu is home of the Yuendumu Magpies football team, who play in the Central Australian Football League
(CAFL) (formerly playing in the Ngurratjuta 'Country' Cup). Yuendumu won the inaugural season of the new Alice Springs competition in 2008. Yuendumu player Liam Jurrah
was drafted into the AFL soon after by the Melbourne Football Club
. Liam is now playing a very exciting brand of footy and helping the Melbourne Demons to develop and groom their younger players.
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It ranks as one of the larger remote communities in central Australia and has a thriving community of Aboriginal artists
Australian Aboriginal art
Indigenous Australian art is art made by the Indigenous peoples of Australia and in collaborations between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians . It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, wood carving, rock carving, sculpture, ceremonial clothing and sandpainting...
. Yuendumu lies 293 km northwest of Alice Springs on the Tanami Track
Tanami Track
The Tanami Road, also known as the Tanami Track and the McGuire Track, is a road in northern Australia. It follows a cattle droving route northwest from the MacDonnell Ranges area of central Australia just north of Alice Springs to Halls Creek in the Kimberley.The Tanami Road is the most direct...
, and is a community largely made up of the Warlpiri
Warlpiri
The Warlpiri are a group of Indigenous Australians, many of whom speak the Warlpiri language. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered through their traditional land in Australia's Northern Territory, north and west of Alice Springs...
Aboriginal people, with a population of 817. Yuendumu is located within the Yuendumu Aboriginal Lands Trust area which includes numerous outstations.
It was established in 1946 by the Native Affairs Branch of the Australian Government to deliver rations and welfare services. In 1947 a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
mission was established there. By 1955 many of the Warlpiri
Warlpiri
The Warlpiri are a group of Indigenous Australians, many of whom speak the Warlpiri language. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered through their traditional land in Australia's Northern Territory, north and west of Alice Springs...
people had settled in the town. Today, some of the services and facilities available in Yuendumu include three community stores, school, airstrip, swimming pool, the Warlukurlangu art centre, an Aboriginal media organisation (PAW Media), a church, an old people's program, women's centre and safe house. Yuendumu retains links with other Warlpiri communities within the region, including Lajamanu, Willowra and Nyirripi.
Yuendumu hosts its annual sports weekend in the first week of August. The event includes football, basketball and softball competitions, attracting teams from other communities around the region. There is also a 'Battle of the Bands' night which showcases local bands.
Accomplishments
In the early 1980s the Yuendumu Warlpiri elders painted ceremonial designs on canvas, which begun the art movement at Yuendumu. The first painting there was on the door of the Yuendumu school (which later started the Yuendumu Doors series), painted by P. Japaljarri Stewart and Kumanjayi Japaljarri Sims, who are some of the most well known artists at the community. In 1985 the Warlukurlangu Artists Association was founded at Yuendumu. Notable artists who have painted with Warlukurlangu include Kumanjayi Nelson Napaljarri, Norah Nelson NapaljarriNorah Nelson Napaljarri
Norah Nelson Napaljarri is a Warlpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Norah Nelson began painting in 1986, and has exhibited her works both in Australia and other countries...
, Sheila Brown Napaljarri
Sheila Brown Napaljarri
Sheila Brown Napaljarri was a Warlpiri speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. A contributor to major collaborative paintings by Indigenous communities, her works are also held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the South Australian Museum.-Life:Sheila Brown was...
, and Judy Watson Napangardi
Judy Watson Napangardi
Judy Napangardi Watson is an Indigenous Australian, senior female painter from the Yuendumu community in the Northern Territory, Australia. She is well known for the distinctive style of painting that she developed alongside her sister Maggie Watson who taught her painting skills...
.
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians. It is generally regarded as beginning with a painting movement that started at Papunya, northwest of Alice Springs, Northern Territory in 1971, involving artists such as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri...
ist Kumanjayi Napaljarri Kennedy was a senior woman at Yuendumu, a member of the community council, and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1994, for services to the Yuendumu community. Artist Maggie Napaljarri Ross
Maggie Napaljarri Ross
Maggie Napaljarri Ross is an Indigenous Australian artist. Her work has been collected by Artbank and the Kluge-Ruhe Museum in the United States.-Life:...
has received the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
for her work in establishing the Yuendumu Night Patrol.
Warlpiri elders founded the Mount Theo Program in 1993 which has become a model for substance misuse prevention and youth diversion/development in remote Australian communities. In 2007, Johnny Japangardi Miller 'Hooker Creek', Peggy Nampijimpa Brown and Andrew Stojanovski were awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for their efforts in founding the program and 'for service to the community of Yuendumu and the surrounding region of the Northern Territory through programs addressing substance abuse among Indigenous youth'.
Yuendumu leaders who were awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001, which commemorates 100 years of Federation and recognises "citizens and other people who made a contribution to Australian society or government" include Wendy Nungarrayi Brown and Rex Granites. Yuendumu is the home community of indigenous activist Bess Nungarrayi Price
Bess Price
Bess Nungarrayi Price is an Australian indigenous activist and chair of the Northern Territory Indigenous Affairs Advisory Council.Born in Yuendumu, her first language is Warlpiri. She also knows Luritja, Western Arrernte and Anmatyerre...
.
For over 25 years the community has also been home to PAW Media (formerly Warlpiri Media), most famously producing 'Bush Mechanics', and also 'Aboriginal Rules' which explored the social meaning of football in remote communities.
Yuendumu is home of the Yuendumu Magpies football team, who play in the Central Australian Football League
Central Australian Football League
The Central Australian Football League is an Australian rules football competition operating out of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia.The CAFL organises the annual Ngurratjuta Town Vs Country Challenge event and local Rec Footy competitions....
(CAFL) (formerly playing in the Ngurratjuta 'Country' Cup). Yuendumu won the inaugural season of the new Alice Springs competition in 2008. Yuendumu player Liam Jurrah
Liam Jurrah
Liam Jungarrayi Jurrah is a professional Australian rules footballer currently playing with the Melbourne Football Club....
was drafted into the AFL soon after by the Melbourne Football Club
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
. Liam is now playing a very exciting brand of footy and helping the Melbourne Demons to develop and groom their younger players.
Publications
- Campbell, Liam (2006). "Darby: One hundred years of life in a changing culture", Sydney, ABC Books.
- Dussart, Francoise (2000). "The politics of ritual in an aboriginal settlement : kinship, gender, and the currency of knowledge", Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press.
- Meggitt, Mervyn J. (1962). "Desert people: A study of the Walbiri Aborigines of Central Australia", Angus & Robertson, London.
- Musharbash, Yasmine (2008). "Yuendumu everyday : intimacy, immediacy and mobility in a remote Aboriginal settlement". Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press
- Musharbash, Yasmine (2002). Yuendumu CDEP: The Warlpiri work ethic and Kardiya staff turnover pp. 153 – 166 in F. Morphy and W.G. Sanders (ed), "The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme" Research Monograph No. 21, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University E Press