Tanami Downs Explained

-20.565°N 129.7236°WTanami Downs (formerly Mongrel Downs) is an Indigenous Australian-owned cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Geography

Tanami Downs station covers approximately [1] of the Northern Territory, about north-west of Alice Springs.

Tanami Downs lies within the Tanami bioregion of hot, dry country, in which the dominant vegetation is spinifex hummock grassland.[2] Though drought-prone and semi-arid, Tanami Downs has some mountainous areas with permanent water, and its northern parts have plains suitable for cattle grazing.[3]

History and administration

Indigenous ownership of Tanami Downs was recognised through the Tanami Downs Land Claim. The claim was lodged in June 1989,[3] and the report under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 recognising the claim, was delivered in early 1992.[4] Title to the land was officially handed to the traditional owners on 21 December 1992.[3]

The land is owned by the Mungkurrupa Land Trust, which represents the traditional owners, while the station is operated by a board comprising a mix of traditional owners, an outside representative of another pastoral station, and an agricultural consultant.[5]

Notable residents (and traditional owners) of Tanami Downs include Indigenous artists Biddy Rockman Napaljarri and Peggy Rockman Napaljarri.[4] It is also where artist and author Kim Mahood grew up, and features heavily in her two biographies Craft for a Dry Lake (2000) and Position Doubtful: mapping landscapes and memories (2016).[6]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tanami Downs : "Mongrel" station has new future. Central Land Council. March 1993. 4 January 2013.
  2. Web site: Rangelands - Tanami. 2000–2002. Australian Natural Resources Atlas. Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. 29 October 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20091005105624/http://www.anra.gov.au/topics/rangelands/overview/nt/ibra-tan.html. 5 October 2009.
  3. News: "Mongrel" station has new future: Tanami Downs Land Claim. March 1993. Land Rights News. Central Land Council. 29 October 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20101027165353/http://www.clc.org.au/Ourland/LRN_stories/Mangkururrpa.html. 27 October 2010.
  4. Web site: Tanami Downs Land Claim: Findings, Recommendation and Report. Justice Olney. 1992. Report No. 42. Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. 29 October 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110329073724/http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/indigenous/pubs/annualreports/aboriginal_land_comm_reports/tanami_downs/Documents/42.PDF. 29 March 2011.
  5. News: New management for Tanami Downs. April 2009. Land Rights News. Central Land Council. 7. 29 October 2009.
  6. Web site: Wyndham . Susan . 2016-08-15 . Kim Mahood returns to the Tanami Desert again and again in Position Doubtful . 2023-10-30 . The Sydney Morning Herald . en.