Arltunga Historical Reserve

The Eastern Arrernte people are the traditional owners of what is now known as the Arltunga Historical Reserve; their name for this place is Arnerre-ntyenge. This site sits within the estate known as Inerentye and this has been their Country for thousands of years.

Once European settlers arrived the Eastern Arrernte people were important to their success and survival and many Aboriginal people believed that, in helping the prospectors, they would retain some form of independence. The Eastern Arrernte people acted at guides, trackers, labourers, miners, messengers and as domestic help within the community.{{Cite web |author=Parks & Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory |title=Aboriginal involvement in mining at Arltunga |url=https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1230547/arltunga-aboriginal-involvement-in-mining-information-sheet.pdf |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=Northern Territory Government |date=2023-05-18}} The Eastern Arrernte also taught the new arrivals knowledge of their Country, particularly in regard to water and bush food resources.

Many Eastern Arrernte people also took work on nearby pastoral stations including Atnarpa, Loves Creek, Ambalindum and The Gardens.

Gold was first observed here by South Australian explorer, David Lindsay in 1887 as he trekked from Port Darwin to the coast of South Australia and it was found in the creek sands below Paddy's Rockhole (Arnerre-ntyenge). The discovery of gold came after his 1886 discoveries of 'rubies' at Ruby Gap (now Ruby Gap Nature Park); these were later discovered to be high quality garnets.{{Cite web |last=Parks & Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory |date=2023-01-01 |title=Information sheet: exploring Arltunga |url=https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/442359/arltunga-exploring.pdf |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=Northern Territory Government}}{{Cite web |last=Government |first=Northern Territory |date=2024-05-23 |title=Ruby Gap Nature Park |url=https://nt.gov.au/parks/find-a-park/ruby-gap-nature-park |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=nt.gov.au |language=en}}

Subsequently, miners flocked to the area and Arltunga became the first substantial European settlement in Central Australia and, in order to support Arltunga, Lindsay was commissioned to survey the town of Stuart (now Alice Springs) in so that it could supply it with the required goods.{{Cite web|url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/Northern-Territory/Arltunga/2005/02/17/1108500201580.html|title = Arltunga|date = 2 May 2008|access-date = 1 May 2015|website = Sydney Morning Herald}}

In 1898 the South Australian Government built the Government Battery and Cyanide Works and construction of these was supervised by James Gilbert Woolcock, who had to overcome significant logistical problems.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|first=D. F.|last=Fairweather|year=|id2=woolcock-james-gilbert-12071|title=Woolcock, James Gilbert (1874–1957)|accessdate=2012-02-18}} The following year, in 1899, the police station and associated outbuildings were built by contractors William Hurle Liddle and Gerhardt Johannsen.{{Citation |author1=Petrick, Jose |title=The history of Alice Springs through landmarks and street names |publication-date=1996 |edition=3rd |publisher=J. Petrick |isbn=978-0-646-30256-0 |author2=Petrick, Jose. Street names tell history of Alice Springs}}

Despite high investment the growth of Arltunga was slowed by a significant period of drought in the 1890s where wells dried up and the horses were too starving to cart ore. There was also a period of several months in 1901 when the battery burst and no ore could be crushed for several months. Conditions, however, improved in 1903 when a rush at the nearby Winnecke Goldfield renewed interest in the region and in 1905 a new well, store and hotel were built there. At the turn of the century the population on the field was between 350 and 400 people.

Discoveries of gold in The Granites and Tennant Creek in the late 1920s and early 1930s meant that many of the miners left Arltunga, who still faced regular issues accessing water. The population had declined to 25 by 1933.{{Cite web|url = http://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/arltunga|title = Arltunga, NT|access-date = 1 May 2015|website = Aussie Towns}}

The Little Flower Mission, run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart order, moved to Arltunga (by then largely abandoned) in 1944 and was renamed Arltunga Mission.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167086398 |title="One of the Most Remarkable Events in the History of the Church in Australia Has Been the Way The Blacks of the Centre Have Accepted the Faith and Let It Sink Deep Into Their Hearts"—(ft. T.) Father Moloney's "hunch" Has Paid Off |newspaper=The Southern Cross |volume=LXIV |issue=3247 |location=South Australia |date=12 December 1952 |access-date=17 July 2016 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} The mission, which had previously been operating in Alice Springs, was moved due to the growing Army presence in the region.{{Cite web |last=Find & Connect Web Resource Project |first=The University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University |title=Arltunga Mission - Organisation - Find & Connect - Northern Territory |url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nt/biogs/YE00026b.htm |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.findandconnect.gov.au |language=en-gb}} Much of the work to complete this move was done by lay missionary Francis McGarry who had also chosen the site; soon after the move was completed McGarry resigned or was asked to leave.{{Cite web |last=O'Grady |first=Frank |date=2006-01-01 |title=Francis James McGarry (1897–1955) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mcgarry-francis-james-10952 |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Australian dictionary of biography}}{{Citation |author1=Robson, Charmaine |title=Francis McGarry and the 'little flower black mission': Encounters of a Catholic lay missionary with indigenous people of central Australia 1935-1944 |journal=Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society |volume=39 |pages=107–118 |publication-date=2018 |issn=0084-7259}}

It was moved to again to Phillipson's Block in 1953 where it was renamed Santa Teresa Mission (this is now known the community of Ltyentye Apurte).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172526266 |title=Native Mission Moves to Better Site |newspaper=Advocate |volume=LXXXV |issue=5064 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 August 1952 |access-date=17 July 2016 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Arltunga Historical Reserve was established in 1975 and comprises 5,000 ha. Owing to the harshness of the climate and the fact that local stone was used in the construction of buildings, the town is well preserved.

The reserve was nominated for heritage listing in 2008. While the Government Battery and Cyanide Works site at Arltunga was successfully listed in 1995, the nomination for the rest of the reserve was unresolved due to a native title claim in the area until 2014, when a second nomination was successful.{{cite web|title=Arltunga Historical Reserve|url=http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/heritageregister/f?p=103:302:285364955392152::NO::P302_SITE_ID:9340|website=Heritage Register|publisher=Northern Territory Government|access-date=2 January 2017}}{{cite web|title=Government Battery and Cyanide Works, Arltunga|url=http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/heritageregister/f?p=103:302:285364955392152::NO::P302_SITE_ID:100|website=Heritage Register|publisher=Northern Territory Government|access-date=2 January 2017}}{{cite web|title=Arltunga Historical Reserve - renominated 2014|url=http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/heritageregister/f?p=103:302:285364955392152::NO::P302_SITE_ID:184619|website=Heritage Register|publisher=Northern Territory Government|access-date=2 January 2017}}

The reserve was listed on the former Register of the National Estate.{{cite AHD|167 |Arltunga Historical Reserve, Arltunga Rd, Alice Springs, NT, Australia }}

File:Camel Teams, Arltunga, c. 1898.jpg|Camel Teams, Arltunga, c. 1898

File:A tent dwelling, Arltunga, c. 1898.jpg|A tent dwelling, Arltunga, c. 1898

File:Cyanide Works, Arltunga, c. 1890.jpg|Cyanide Works, Arltunga, c. 1890

File:The Government Battery, Arltunga, NT, 1900.jpg|The Government Battery, Arltunga, 1900

File:Winnecke Hotel, Arltunga, 1905.jpg|Winnecke Hotel, Arltunga, 1905

File:Police Station, Arltunga, 1920.jpg|Police Station, Arltunga, 1920

File:Jessie May Gunn 043.tif|The road into Arltunga, with a Bond's Tour bus, 1946

Further images are available within the [https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/collection/Arltunga+Collection Arltunga Collection] at the State Library of South Australia.{{Cite web |title=Arltunga Collection • Collection • State Library of South Australia |url=https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/collection/Arltunga+Collection |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=collections.slsa.sa.gov.au}}

• Chinese market gardener Ah Hong made many trips to Arltunga with vegetables and fresh food for the miners.
• Bushman, Ben Nicker, was born just north of the Arltunga goldfields.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FU7zEbdukmwC&pg=PA1 |title=Bushman of the Red Heart |chapter=Sam and Liz Nicker, Outback Pioneers: The Garden Settlement |pages=15–17 |author=Judy Robinson |year=2012 |publisher=Boolarong Press |isbn=9781922109262 |access-date=1 November 2020}}
• Gwoya Tjungurrayi and his family escaped to the Arltunga region following the Coniston massacre and he later worked as a gold miner there.{{cite web |title=Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography |url=https://hdl.handle.net/10070/492231 |access-date=24 May 2024 |publisher=Charles Darwin University Press |hdl=10070/492231 |publication-place=Casuarina}}{{Cite web |title=The remarkable life of the Warlpiri-Anmatyerre man on the $2 coin |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/the-remarkable-life-of-the-walpiri-anmatyerre-man-on-the-2-coin-gwoja-tjungurrayi/65m2i4h6t |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=NITV |language=en}}
• Hetty Perkins, who worked at The Bungalow for many years, was born at Arltunga.
• Topsy Smith, alongside her husband William "Bill" Smith, spent many years at the Arltunga Goldfields; her son Walter Smith also spent much of his early life there.{{Citation |author1=Kimber, Richard (Richard G.) |title=Man from Arltunga : Walter Smith, Australian bushman |publication-date=1986 |publisher=Hesperian Press |isbn=978-0-85905-084-5}}
• Policeman William George Murray was transferred to Arltunga in 1931 following the events of the Coniston massacre. Here he was appointed as the Mining Warden and later, in 1936, the health inspector.{{Citation |author1=Bradley, Michael |title=Coniston |publication-date=2019 |publisher=UWA Publishing |isbn=978-1-76080-103-8 |author2=ProQuest (Firm)}}{{cite news |date=28 February 1936 |title=G N. 82/36. HEALTH ORDINANCE 1915-1928. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49430315 |accessdate=24 May 2024 |newspaper=Northern Standard |location=Northern Territory, Australia |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=17}} In 1937 he was investigated for the illegal selling of government property and was later acquitted in court; following this incident he was transferred to Roper River in 1938.{{cite news |date=6 September 1938 |title=Criminal sessions at Alice Springs |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49450152 |accessdate=24 May 2024 |newspaper=Northern Standard |location=Northern Territory, Australia |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=70}}

There are two cemeteries that sit within the Arltunga Historical Reserve:{{Cite web |date=2019-01-01 |title=Cemeteries of the Northern Territory: reconciliation of AusCem and original listing by the late Vernon T. O'Brien OBE |url=https://gsnt.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Reconciliation-of-Northern-Territory-Cemeteries-as-of-January-2019.pdf |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=Genealogical Society of the Northern Territory Inc}}

• Crossroads Cemetery
• White Range Cemetery

{{Weather box|location = Arltunga, elevation {{convert|661|m|ft|abbr=on}}, (2000–2020 normals, extremes 2000–present)

|metric first = Y

|single line = Y

|width= auto

|collapsed = Y

|Jan record high C = 43.9

|Feb record high C = 43.7

|Mar record high C = 41.6

|Apr record high C = 39.0

|May record high C = 33.4

|Jun record high C = 30.2

|Jul record high C = 30.4

|Aug record high C = 35.0

|Sep record high C = 39.0

|Oct record high C = 41.0

|Nov record high C = 42.5

|Dec record high C = 44.5

|Jan record low C = 10.0

|Feb record low C = 8.6

|Mar record low C = 6.9

|Apr record low C = 1.5

|May record low C = -4.2

|Jun record low C = -5.0

|Jul record low C = -6.5

|Aug record low C = -5.0

|Sep record low C = -0.9

|Oct record low C = 0.0

|Nov record low C = 6.6

|Dec record low C = 7.5

|Jan high C = 36.2

|Feb high C = 34.7

|Mar high C = 32.4

|Apr high C = 29.1

|May high C = 23.2

|Jun high C = 19.5

|Jul high C = 20.2

|Aug high C = 23.0

|Sep high C = 27.8

|Oct high C = 31.3

|Nov high C = 33.8

|Dec high C = 34.7

|Jan low C = 22.3

|Feb low C = 21.1

|Mar low C = 18.6

|Apr low C = 13.4

|May low C = 8.1

|Jun low C = 4.3

|Jul low C = 3.1

|Aug low C = 4.7

|Sep low C = 10.2

|Oct low C = 14.3

|Nov low C = 18.1

|Dec low C = 20.4

|rain colour = green

|Jan rain mm = 65.0

|Feb rain mm = 57.8

|Mar rain mm = 33.6

|Apr rain mm = 18.6

|May rain mm = 18.5

|Jun rain mm = 14.0

|Jul rain mm = 9.2

|Aug rain mm = 4.4

|Sep rain mm = 10.5

|Oct rain mm = 23.4

|Nov rain mm = 32.9

|Dec rain mm = 52.6

|unit rain days = 1.0 mm

|Jan rain days = 4.3

|Feb rain days = 3.7

|Mar rain days = 2.1

|Apr rain days = 1.2

|May rain days = 1.9

|Jun rain days = 1.5

|Jul rain days = 1.2

|Aug rain days = 0.8

|Sep rain days = 1.5

|Oct rain days = 2.8

|Nov rain days = 4.0

|Dec rain days = 5.3

|year precipitation days =

|source 1 = Australian Bureau of Meteorology{{cite web

| url = http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/cvg/av?p_stn_num=015594&p_prim_element_index=0&p_comp_element_index=0&redraw=null&p_display_type=full_statistics_table&normals_years=1991-2020&tablesizebutt=normal

| title = Climate statistics for Australian locations- ARLTUNGA

| date = 7 April 2024}}

}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Protected areas of the Northern Territory|state=collapsed}}

Category:Historical reserves of the Northern Territory

Category:Ghost towns in the Northern Territory

Category:Mining in the Northern Territory

Category:Gold mines in Australia

Category:Australian Aboriginal missions

Category:Northern Territory places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate