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