Yalata, South Australia Explained

Type:town
Yalata
State:sa
Coordinates:-31.3841°N 131.6205°W
Coord Ref:[1]
Pushpin Label Position:top
Pop:248
Established:1954 (mission)); 1994
23 October 2003 (locality)
Established Footnotes:[2]
Postcode:5690[3]
Elevation:90
Area:4563
Timezone:ACST
Utc:+9:30
Timezone-Dst:ACDT
Utc-Dst:+10:30
Dist1:738
Dir1:W
Location1:Adelaide
Dist2:193
Dir2:W
Location2:Ceduna (airport)
Dist3:292
Location3:Eucla
Dist4:281
Location4:WA-SA border
Lga:Aboriginal Council of Yalata
Region:Eyre Western
County:Hopetoun (part)
Stategov:Flinders[4]
Fedgov:Grey[5]
Maxtemp:23.8
Maxtemp Footnotes:[6]
Mintemp:10.8
Rainfall:252.6
Near-N:Nullarbor
Yellabinna
Near-Ne:Yellabinna
Chundaria
Near-E:Yellabinna
Mitchidy Moola
Near-Se:Mitchidy Moola
Fowlers Bay
Near-Sw:Great Australian Bight
Near-W:Nullarbor
Near-Nw:Nullarbor
Footnotes:Adjoining localities

Yalata is an Aboriginal community located west of Ceduna and south of Ooldea on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. It lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people, but 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.

At the, Yalata and the surrounding area had a population of 248.

History

Yalata lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people.[7] Decades after the European settlement of South Australia began in 1836, a sheep station known as Yalata station was established, with its homestead built in 1880 located 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.[8]

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.[9] [10]

In 1951 South Australian Government bought the entire Yalata sheep station, including its 7,000 sheep,[9] "for the benefit and use of aborigines", and in 1954 turned the whole area bar 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 6,000 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".[11]

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.[9] 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.[12] 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.[13] The Lutheran missionaries planned to teach the mission residents how to raise sheep, and the mission would be run in conjunction with Koonibba.[14] The government would take about 50% of the gross income of the station.[15]

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".[12]

By 1969, many of the 300 people living at the mission were working on the nearby Colona Station[16] (which by around 2007 was part of the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area[17]).

In 1974 the Yalata Community Council took over the whole reserve, and the mission ceased operation as a mission.[12]

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 and span approximately 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.

Yalata Roadhouse was closed in February 2006.[18]

In August 2007, fire destroyed the shed-structure police station and associated home, with damage estimated at approximately 500,000.[19]

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.[20]

Environment

The Atlas of South Australia describes the Yalata area as:

Demography

At the, the population was 248, but the number fluctuates (up to around 500), depending on cultural business, seasons and other factors.[21] Pitjantjatja was spoken as the primary language in 50.4% of homes in the Yalata area, specifically a southern dialect.[22] [21]

The main religion of residents was as follows, Lutheran: 37.3%, no religion 15.4%, Australian Aboriginal traditional religions: 10.8% and not stated: 33.6%.

Governance

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).[23] Yalata Land is held in trust under the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966 and covers an area of .[21]

At the state and federal levels, Yalata lies in the electoral district of Flinders and at the division of Grey, respectively.[24]

Facilities

There is a caravan park to assist tourists passing through or visiting the Great Australian Bight for fishing or whale watching.[25] [20]

Yalata Anangu School provides R-12 education.[26] [27]

Yalata Mission Airport is a single-runway airstrip that serves the community and nearby lands.[28]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 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. 13 August 2019.
  2. Web site: Weatherill . Jay . GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES ACT 1991 Notice to Assign Names and Boundaries to Places . The South Australian Government Gazette . Government of South AustralIA . 14 April 2019 . 3859 . 23 October 2003 . "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)".
  3. Web site: Postcode for Yalata, South Australia. Postcodes Australia. 13 August 2019.
  4. Web site: District of Flinders Background Profile. Electoral Commission SA. 13 August 2019.
  5. Web site: Profile of the electoral division of Grey (SA). Australian Electoral Commission. 13 August 2019.
  6. Web site: Monthly climate statistics: Summary statistics Nullarbor (nearest weather station) . 13 August 2019.
  7. Web site: Map of Indigenous Australia . AIATSIS. David R.. Horton. 1996 . David Horton (writer). 18 October 2021.
  8. Web site: Old Yalata Homestead Ruins – SA . ExplorOz . 24 October 2017 . 18 October 2021.
  9. Brady . Maggie . The politics of space and mobility: controlling the Ooldea/Yalata Aborigines, 1952–1982 . . . 23 . 1999 . 0314-8769. 24046757 . 1–14 . 18 October 2021.
  10. Web site: Ooldea Mission (1933-1952). Find & Connect. 18 October 2021.
  11. Report of the Aborigines Protection Board for the Year ended 30th June, 1954 . AIATSIS. 1955. Aborigines Protection Board (South Australia). 5. 18 October 2021.
  12. Web site: Yalata Mission (1954-1974). Find & Connect. 18 October 2021.
  13. News: Hitch in Govt. plans for Ooldea natives . . 41 . 2,066 . South Australia . 5 January 1952 . 18 October 2021 . 1 . National Library of Australia.
  14. News: Natives To Learn Sheep Raising . . 97 . 29,864 . South Australia . 2 July 1954 . 18 October 2021 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  15. News: Church To Take Over Yalata As Mission Station . . 96 . 29,760 . South Australia . 2 March 1954 . 18 October 2021 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  16. News: 'A very advanced experiment' . . 44 . 12,460 . 5 November 1969 . 18 October 2021 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  17. Web site: A Biological Survey of the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area, South Australia, 2007 – 2008. 2009. 18 October 2021. Neagle, N. . Department for Environment and Heritage, South Australia.
  18. Web site: Lease issues close roadhouse . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 28 April 2007.
  19. http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22280940-5006301,00.html Fire destroys police station, Adelaide Advertiser, 21 August 2007
  20. Web site: Australian Army in Yalata. ABC Eyre Peninsula. Facebook . 18 October 2021.
  21. Web site: Alinytljara Wiluṟara: Our communities . Landscape South Australia . 18 October 2021.
  22. Web site: Yalata Land Management. 18 May 2006.
  23. Web site: Aboriginal and outback communities . LGA South Australia . 6 July 2016 . 18 October 2021.
  24. Web site: Yalata, 5690 . Location SA . 18 October 2021.
  25. Web site: Yalata . Nullarbor Net . 21 May 2006.
  26. Web site: Yalata Anangu School . My School . 30 June 2021 . 18 October 2021.
  27. Web site: Department for Education . Yalata Anangu School . 8 June 2021 . 18 October 2021.
  28. Web site: Yalata Mission Airport (KYI). World Airport Codes. 18 October 2021.