Warakurna

Giles Weather Station

The Giles Weather Station is a fully functioning meteorological observation station based at Warakurna Community. Visitors can schedule a tour of the station and view the daily release of the observation balloon. Please note the Giles Weather Station operates under Central Standard Daylight Savings Time (GMT + 10:30). For more information about visiting the Giles Weather Station, including contact details please visit – http://www.bom.gov.au/sa/giles/index.shtml

Gunbarrel Highway

The Gunbarrel Highway is an isolated desert track in the Northern Territory, South Australian and Western Australia. It consists of about 1,400 km (870 mi) of washaways, heavy corrugations, stone, sand and flood plains. By any standard, this is a long and tough haul through very remote territory. Its isolation requires travelers to be totally self-sufficient with water, food and fuel (the longest distance between fuel outlets is 489 km, between Warburton and Carnegie Station.)

The Gunbarrel Highway connects Victory Downs, just north of the Northern Territory/South Australia border to Carnegie Station in Western Australia (this is the direction the road was constructed) – it does not extend to Wiluna. Three permits are required to drive the entire Gunbarrel Highway and they are available from the Department of Indigenous Affairs at no charge.

The Gunbarrel Highway was built as part of Australia’s role in the weapons research establishment called Woomera which included Emu Field and Maralinga, both atomic bomb testing sites. Construction began in 1955 and was finally completed on 15 November 1958 when the road reached Carnegie. The highway was surveyed and constructed under the direction of legendary bushman Len Beadell, who was responsible for numerous other roads in Australia that opened up some of the most remote desert areas of the continent in the 1950s and 1960s. Its name comes from Beadell’s Gunbarrel Road Construction Party so named as his intention was to build roads as straight as a gun barrel. This was only sporadically achieved however, due to the nature and variety of terrain through which the roads passed. Part of the highway between Warburton and Warakurna is now known as the Old Gunbarrel Highway, and is no longer maintained due to the construction of the more direct route, the Great Central Road.

More information on Warakurna

Warakurna is located at the western end of the majestic Rawlinson Ranges. The residents are mostly Ngaanyatjarra speakers.

Many of them experienced their first contact with non-Aboriginals in the late 1930’s with the establishment of the Warburton Mission while for other residents their first contact was in the late 1950’s with the Native Patrol Officers working for the Weapons Research Establishment in Woomera, South Australia. Native Patrol Officers were employed by the Government to move the remaining nomadic Yarnangu from their country to Warburton Mission or other government settlements in the region in order to protect them from rocket debris from the “Blue Streak” research project. As a result some Yarnangu from this area were taken to Warburton Mission, and a few others were taken to missions at Jigalong and Balgo in WA and to the government settlement at Papunya in NT. The work of the Native Patrol Officers was greatly facilitated by the road construction work (including the Gunbarrell Highway) undertaken by Len Beadell who was employed by the Weapons Research Establishment. For the first time the country around the Rawlinson Ranges was opened up to mechanised transport allowing for easier access from the south, west and east. This also allowed for the establishment of the Giles Weather Station on an area excised from the Reserve in 1956 for this purpose. In 1991 this excision was handed over to the Ngaanyatjarra Council who now sub-lease it back to the Commonwealth.

By the 1960’s a new government settlement was established at Docker River, just across the WA / NT border and only 100km north-east of the Giles Weather Station. Many Yarnangu traditionally from the Warakurna area moved to Docker River from Papunya to be closer to their homelands. Docker River provided an ideal base from which people could make visits during holiday periods to the many rockholes at the base of the Rawlinson Ranges.

In the early 1970’s several factors, including the availability of government funding for homelands, easier road access, over-crowding at Docker River settlement and Warburton Mission, all combined to make the location of Giles Weather Station ideal for a new community. The Warakurna Community was incorporated in 1976.

Ngaanyatjarra Lands

The Ngaanyatjarra Lands comprise a vast area of Western Australia (250,000 square kilometres) adjoining the Northern Territory and South Australian borders. The Ngaanyatjarra Lands are entirely within the state of Western Australia and fall within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku, the Shire of East Pilbara and the Shire of Laverton.

The Ngaanyatjarra Lands encompass sections of the Gibson Desert, Great Sandy Desert, Great Victoria Desert, and all of the Central Ranges within Western Australia. These immense areas of spectacular scenery have few obvious signs of human presence. The unique nature of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, coupled with their remote location, precludes many land management activities that are practiced elsewhere in Australia. There has never been a pastoral industry and, apart from a few activities such as sandalwood harvesting, collection of dingo scalps and prospecting, there has been no other industry. The Ngaanyatjarra people have maintained a continuous association with their country and comprise the majority resident population.