Ngaanyatjarra

Far from any town, in the deserts of eastern Western Australia and reaching into the Northern Territory, lies the country of the Ngaanyatjarra. They are one of the Western Desert peoples of Aboriginal Australia, and in 2005 their claim produced what was described as the largest native title determination in the country's history.

Ngaanyatjarra is one of the dialects of the Western Desert language, part of the Wati branch of the Pama–Nyungan family, and it is readily understood by speakers of its neighbour Ngaatjatjarra. Like the names of other desert dialects, it is built from an everyday word: ngaanya, "this", with the suffix -tjarra, "having", so the name marks the people who say ngaanya for "this", where the Ngaatjatjarra say ngaatja. Many Ngaanyatjarra speak several neighbouring dialects as well as English. The 2021 census recorded 1,051 speakers. The anthropologist Norman Tindale listed them, together with the Pini, under the name Nana.

Ngaanyatjarra lands cover about 3 per cent of the Australian landmass, an area about the size of the United Kingdom, taking in parts of the Gibson Desert, the Great Victoria Desert, the Great and Little Sandy Deserts and the ranges of the western central desert. The nearest towns, Alice Springs and Kalgoorlie, are around 1,000 kilometres away. People have lived in the region for perhaps 10,000 years. Among their neighbours are the Pitjantjatjara and the Martu.

In traditional life the Ngaanyatjarra moved through their country in small bands of about a dozen people. Society was divided into two moieties, sun-side and shade-side, with six named sections governing marriage. Young men passed through a long, graded system of initiation and instruction by elders, and full standing as a knowledgeable elder came only late in life; learning the law of the Tjukurrpa, the Dreaming, continued for decades.

No outside institution was set up on Ngaanyatjarra land until the Warburton Mission in 1934, and until the 1960s contact with the wider world remained limited; unlike many Aboriginal peoples, they were not driven off their country. The mission's influence lasts in a strong Christian, especially charismatic, tradition. Estimates of the population range from about 1,600 permanent residents to some 2,700 including people of Ngaanyatjarra descent who move in and out of the area. The communities are alcohol-free, and the people are noted for their longevity, though researchers also record serious social stresses, including family violence and high imprisonment rates.

On 29 June 2005 the Federal Court recognised Ngaanyatjarra native title over about 187,000 square kilometres in Western Australia. The Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku, covering 159,948 square kilometres, provides local government, while the Ngaanyatjarra Council runs services for ten communities, among them Warburton, Warakurna, Wingellina (Irrunytju), Blackstone (Papulankutja), Jameson (Mantamaru) and Tjukurla.

Our maps from 1600 to 1815 (1600, 1650, 1700, 1715, 1783, 1800 and 1815) draw an approximate Ngaanyatjarra territory in the central Western Desert, beside the Mandjindja, the Ngaatjatjarra (labelled Ngatatjara) and the Martu (labelled Mardu). See also Aboriginal Australians and Australia.