Musgrave Ranges
{{Short description|Mountain range in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox mountain range
| name = Musgrave Ranges
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| country = Australia
| state = South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia
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| highest = Ngarutjaranya
| elevation = {{convert|4708|ft|m|order=flip|abbr=on}}{{cite book|title=MUsgrave Ranges|date=2014|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|isbn=9781593394929|page=682|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Musgrave-Ranges|accessdate=21 December 2019}}
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| range_coordinates = {{Coord|26.320329|S|131.743936|E|format=dms|type:mountain_region:AU-SA|display=inline,title}}
| length = {{convert|130|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on|sigfig=2}}
| length_orientation = east/west
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| map =South Australia
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Musgrave Ranges is a mountain range in Central Australia, straddling the boundary of South Australia (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) and the Northern Territory (MacDonnell Shire),{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/398856/Musgrave-Ranges|title=Musgrave Ranges|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|accessdate=2009-01-15|archivedate=21 August 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821202453/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/398856/Musgrave-Ranges|url-status=live}} extending into Western Australia. It is between the Great Victoria Desert to the south and the Gibson Desert to the north. They have a length of {{convert|210|km}} and many peaks that have a height of more than {{convert|1100|m}}, the highest being Ngarutjaranya at {{convert|1435|m}}.
Inhabitants
They were originally inhabited by the indigenous Yankunytjatjara people.{{cite book|others=University of California, Los Angeles Dept. of Anthropology|title=Anthropology U.C.L.A.|publisher=Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.|year=1981}} The English explorer William Gosse and his team were the first Europeans to visit the region in the 1870s. Gosse named the mountains after Anthony Musgrave,{{cite book|last=Room|first=Adrian |title=Dictionary of World Place Names Derived from British Names|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1989|page=120|isbn=978-0-415-02811-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7JEOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA120|accessdate=2009-01-14}} then Governor of South Australia. At the start of the 20th century, Yankunytjatjara people began migrating east, and groups of Pitjantjatjara moved into the Musgrave region from the west. Today, the majority of the families in the communities of Amata and Kaltjiti identify as Pitjantjatjara.{{cite book|title=Politics and History in Band Societies|year=182|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521284127|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHs6AAAAIAAJ|author=Eleanor Leacock|author2=Richard B. Lee|page=470}}
In a historic decision freehold title to the South Australian portion of the Musgrave Ranges was granted to the Pitjantjatjara people by virtue of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act 1981.{{cite journal|year=1999|title=Architect of South Australian Land Rights|journal=Indigenous Law Bulletin|volume=4|issue=18|page=23|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ILB/1999/19.html|accessdate=2009-01-15|archivedate=25 October 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025231017/http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ILB/1999/19.html|url-status=live}}
Mineral exploration
In order to combat unemployment, the Pitjantjatjara Elders seek to develop employment and opportunity within the Pitjantjatjara Lands. Mineral exploration companies in particular have been keen to discuss possible business alliances with the Pitjantjatjara people because in addition to being a highly prospective region (platinum group elements, gold, uranium, copper, silver,{{cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20419426-643,00.html|title=China's hunger for secure supplies feeds our economy|last=Bromby|first=Robin|date=2006-09-16|work=The Australian|publisher=News Limited|accessdate=2009-01-15|archivedate=18 September 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060918112242/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20419426-643,00.html|url-status=dead}} possibly oil), the region represents the largest freehold Aboriginal province in Australia and has had no modern mineral exploration techniques applied since the Land Rights Act of 1981.{{cite news|url=http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21649563-5003680,00.html|title=Grab your hard hat, boom coming|last=Starick|first=Paul|author2=Cameron England|date=2007-05-01|work=AdelaideNow|publisher=News Limited|accessdate=2009-01-15|archivedate=4 March 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032131/http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21649563-5003680,00.html|url-status=live}}