Warburton, Western Australia

The settlement was established as an Aboriginal mission under the auspices of the UAM (United Aborigines Mission) in 1934 by Will Wade, his wife and his children. It was named after explorer Peter Warburton, the first European to cross the Great Sandy Desert.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

The Ngaanyatjarra people of the Western Desert cultural bloc were nomadic people, but with the arrival of missionaries in 1933, they were drawn to the mission. By 1954, around 500 to 700 Aboriginal people lived at the mission. There was a school where they were taught in English, and traditional culture discouraged. Domestic skills were taught to women and girls, and the men collected dingo or became shearers or builders.{{cite web| url=http://www.abc.net.au/arts/signal/stories/s767541.htm| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050505215801/http://www.abc.net.au/arts/signal/stories/s767541.htm| archive-date=5 May 2005|first=Liz|last=Thompson |title=Ngaanyatjarra Dreaming: The Warburton Arts Project| year=2003| publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation| access-date=9 April 2014}}

More people were attracted to work at the copper mine which opened nearby, and by the 1970s there were few Aboriginal people living as nomads in the bush. In 1973, the UAM handed control of the settlement to the Aboriginal people represented by the Ngaanyatjarra Council, while the Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority of the Government of Western Australia became responsible for economic development.

The town was hit by a flash flood in February 2011. Water levels in some parts of town reached as high as {{convert|2|m|ft|0}} resulting in 60 homes being evacuated. Water flowed through 15 homes to a height of {{convert|30|cm|in|0}} and two people had to be rescued from a stranded four-wheel drive vehicle that had water reach window level.{{cite web|url=https://internet.fesa.wa.gov.au/alerts/Pages/Alert.aspx?ItemId=2122|title=FESA – Warburton recovering from flash flood|year=2011|access-date=2011-02-13}}

In 1957, the "Warburton Ranges controversy" or "Warburton Ranges crisis" arose, after it was reported in 1956 that at least 40 Aboriginal people had been discovered to be ill and malnourished in the Central Desert.{{cite web | title=Warburton Ranges controversy, 1957 | website=National Museum of Australia | date=26 November 2018 | url=https://www.nma.gov.au/explore/features/indigenous-rights/civil-rights/warburton-ranges | access-date=29 November 2020}}

The matter came into public consciousness after, in partnership with the British Government, the Commonwealth government had started testing nuclear weapons in the desert, and the Government of Western Australia raised concerns about the Western desert people living nomadically in the area. The response from the Commonwealth was that Aboriginal welfare was a state government matter. Activists protested and many concerned members of the public wrote letters to the Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Robert Menzies, as well as their local MPs. An enquiry into the state of the Aboriginal people by a select committee followed, with their report tabled in the Western Australian Parliament in December 1956, officially called the Report of the Select Committee appointed to Enquire into Native Welfare Conditions in the Laverton-Warburton Range Area (or the Grayden Report, after chairman William Grayden). It reported that many of the Wongi people (referring to the Wangkatha, a group of eight Aboriginal peoples{{cite thesis|url=https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/137/|title=Incarcerating Indigenous people of the Wongatha lands in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia: Indigenous leaders' perspectives|first= Stephen J. |last=Bedells|publisher=Edith Cowan University|date=2010 |type=Masters}} [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1137&context=theses PDF]) of the Warburton Ranges region suffered from malnutrition, blindness, disease, burns and other injuries, and that abortions and infanticide were common. Mainstream newspapers brought the matter to public attention after the Communist Party of Australia's newspaper Tribune published a damning assessment of the report, and letters to the editors flooded in.

In response to the publicity, three separate groups visited the area:

• a group of journalists led by Rupert Murdoch, then editor of The News (Adelaide), to an area up to the Rawlinson Ranges in the north;
• a group of Western Australian Department of Health officials, who covered the ground as far as the Laverton area in the west; and
• a group of anthropologists, including Ronald and Catherine Berndt, who travelled southwards as far as the transcontinental railway.

Murdoch rejected the findings outright, saying in an article "These fine native people have never enjoyed better conditions", accompanied by a photograph of a well-fed, happy family group – failing to mention that the photo was four years old. The anthropologists said that the report had been exaggerated, and that malnutrition was not as widespread as it claimed, but argued that the status of Aboriginal reserves need examination. Being the Aboriginal people's "most tangible asset", mineral rights should not be granted in their land by the government.

In response to Murdoch's repudiation of the report, Grayden set out to return to the area in February 1957, this time with Pastor Doug Nicholls and armed with a movie camera. The resulting film, titled Manslaughter, was screened in Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, and in country towns, shocking audiences with its depiction of malnourished children. More White Australians wrote to the Prime Minister and rejected the federal government's response and Murdoch's report, and the Save the Aborigines Committee was established in Melbourne (a precursor to the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League. The incident proved a spur to a range of activism, including plans by the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society, based in London, in conjunction with the Victorian Council for Aboriginal Rights (CAR) and the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship in New South Wales, in collaboration with Jessie Street, a leading Australian suffragette. Anna Froland of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom's Melbourne branch, was a leading figure in keeping the issue alive, arguing that both federate and state governments were responsible for the welfare of the country's Aboriginal peoples.

Soon a national movement grew, promoted by Shirley Andrews, the Secretary of the Victorian Council for Aboriginal Rights, Charles Duguid, the President of the Aborigines' Advancement League of South Australia, and Stan Davey, Secretary of the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League. The national movement was created in Adelaide in February 1958, when activists from all over Australia formed the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement (now FCAATSI).

Warburton is the centre of a very large and extremely isolated Aboriginal reserve, Ngaanyatjarra, which stretches east to the Northern Territory border. Beyond there the first major settlement is Yulara, near Uluru. The closest town is Laverton {{convert|560|km}} south west along the Great Central Road.

Warburton is situated on the Elder Creek.[http://bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&cmd=sp&p=1591&st=&s=warburton Bonzle.com Australian Atlas Information Page]{{full citation needed |date=January 2025}}

The area around Warburton continues to be of interest for mining exploration, predominantly for copper and nickel, but also uranium and gold.

Warburton Layout Plan No.1 was prepared in accordance with State Planning Policy 3.2 Aboriginal Communities, and was endorsed by the community on 9 December 2003 and the Western Australian Planning Commission on 29 June 2004.{{citation|title=Warburton Layout Plan map-set and background report|url=https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/information-and-services/state-planning/aboriginal-communities/aboriginal-community-maps/layout-plans}}

The demographics of the population are likely matched by the overall data indicated for the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku 2016 Census. The 2016 Census indicated a population of 576 residents, 84.9% of whom were Indigenous Australians.

The Indigenous people of Warburton belong to the Western Desert cultural bloc.[http://www.berndt.uwa.edu.au/ Berndt UWA] It is also in the area of the Papunya Tula art movement, which was founded in 1971–72 and whose name derives from derives from Papunya, a settlement located about {{convert|240|km|abbr=on}} north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Artworks by Papunya Tula artists are represented in many major art galleries, museums, institutions and private collections both in Australia and around the world.{{cite web | title=History | website=Papunya Tula Artists | url=https://papunyatula.com.au/history/ | access-date=30 November 2020}} The main language spoken is Ngaanyatjarra. According to the 2006 census, English was the only language spoken at home by 9.2% of Indigenous persons usually resident in Warburton while Ngaanyatjarra (78.5%) and Wangkatha(2.3%) were the only two other Indigenous languages spoken.

Wilurarra Creative Centre is a community facility which is activated by a year-round program, for people aged between 17 and 30 years. Within Wilurarra Creative's Centre people work on a range of different practices including music, fashion performance, land and cultural practice, digital media, print media and art. Wilurarra Creative engages with the demand from Warburton's young people for the activities that link the reality of contemporary cultural context within which Ngaanyatjarra life operates.[https://www.wilurarra.com.au Wilurarra Creative Centre]/

The centre was built in 1994, the first dedicated music recording studio in the Ngaanyatjarra region, and its programs have been across various art and cultural forms, subject matter and involving a range of community people. In 2007, a video produced by Warburton Youth Artists Nerida Lane and Prudence Andy won the prestigious Heywire Award.[http://blogs.abc.net.au/heywire/2007/12/honey-ants.html 'Honey ants' video]

The Wilurarra Creative program is based on empowerment, equality and collaboration. Wilurarra also utilises the democratising power of YouTube.[http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/01/23/the-lajamanu-warlpiri-community-and-the-democratising-power-of-youtube/ The Democratising power of Youtube] The Studio and its programs are currently funded by the Federal Attorney General's Department and occur in the town of Warburton on the Ngaanyatjarra Lands.

The Tjulyuru Cultural and Civic Centre houses the Tjulyuru Regional Arts Gallery, which is reputed to be the largest collection of community-controlled Aboriginal Australian art in the world, also known as the Warburton Collection.{{cite web | title=Tjulyuru Cultural and Civic Centre| website=Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku | url=https://www.ngaanyatjarraku.wa.gov.au/index.php/tourist-information/places-to-see/tjulyuru-cultural-and-civic-centre | access-date=30 November 2020}} The gallery exhibits Aboriginal arts and crafts from Warakurna Artists, Papalunkutja Artists, Kayili Artists, Tjanpi Weavers and Wilurarra Creative. The Warburton Arts Project was commenced in 1990 to preserve local tradition and culture,{{cite web| url=http://www.abc.net.au/arts/signal/stories/warburton2.htm| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050506040710/http://www.abc.net.au/arts/signal/stories/warburton2.htm| archive-date=6 May 2005|first=Liz|last=Thompson| title='You Never Give the Story Away': How Warburton Artists retain control of their Dreaming| year=2003| publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}{{cite web| url=http://www.abc.net.au/arts/signal/stories/warburton3.htm| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050506040714/http://www.abc.net.au/arts/signal/stories/warburton3.htm| archive-date=6 May 2005|first=Liz|last=Thompson |title=The Tjulyuru Cultural Centre| year=2003| publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}} with the new cultural centre opening in October 2000. It includes a performing arts venue, and is a regional centre for Ngaanyatjarra culture.

The rock art site known as the "Rainbow cave" has been painted layer upon layer over the years, using imagery which is used to teach children. Stewart Davies and Tommy Simms are two of the artists who painted the cave in the early 2000s.{{cite web| url=http://www.abc.net.au/arts/signal/stories/warburton4.htm| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050506040718/http://www.abc.net.au/arts/signal/stories/warburton4.htm| archive-date=6 May 2005|first=Liz|last=Thompson |title=Warburton Travel Journal| year=2003| publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}

Warburton is in the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku.Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku [http://www.ngaanyatjarraku.wa.gov.au]/ Information on travel and tourism in the area can be found on their website. The town has an air strip, one community store, health clinic, school, youth drop-in centre, open air swimming pool, sports field, gallery and coffee shop (open Sunday mornings), and roadhouse.{{cite web | url = https://warburtonroadhouse.com.au/ | title = Warburton Roadhouse | access-date = 27 January 2019}} The town is serviced by Australia Post and the Flying Doctor Service.

A two-chair haemodialysis unit opened in the community in 2013. Patients can return to Warburton permanently or for extended visits and be treated. The service is run by Western Desert Dialysis{{cite web |url=http://www.westerndesertdialysis.com/ |title=Home |website=westerndesertdialysis.com}} in partnership with Ngaanyatjarra Health Service.

Ngaanyatjarra Community College was opened in August 1996 to provide a range of adult education options for the community. The only current service offered at the college is a telecentre.{{cite web| url=http://www.tjulyuru.com/college.asp| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927212944/http://www.tjulyuru.com/college.asp| archive-date=27 September 2011| title=Ngaanyatjarra Community College Warburton| publisher=tjulyuru.com Tjulyuru Cultural and Civic Centre| access-date=9 April 2014}}

Warburton is a "dry" community where the use and import of alcohol is prohibited under local by-laws.

Tourists and visitors need a permit from the Ngaanyatjarra Council to enter the town and use any of the highways in the area.

Warburton has a hot desert climate (Bwh) with long, hot summers and short, warm winters. January is the hottest month of the year, with a mean maximum temperature of {{convert|37.9|°C}} and a mean minimum of {{convert|23.2|°C}}. July is the coolest month with a mean maximum temperature of {{convert|20.9|°C}} and a mean minimum temperature of {{convert|5.8|°C}}.

Average rainfall is {{convert|244.4|mm|in}}, with February tending to be the wettest month and September the driest month. Warburton is therefore more affected by the tropical rain systems from the north of Australia rather than the rain-bearing cold fronts arriving from Antarctica towards the south of Australia.

{{Weather box

|location = Warburton Airfield

|metric first = Yes

|single line = Yes

|Jan record high C = 47.7

|Feb record high C = 46.3

|Mar record high C = 44.8

|Apr record high C = 40.1

|May record high C = 35.7

|Jun record high C = 30.0

|Jul record high C = 31.0

|Aug record high C = 37.8

|Sep record high C = 40.0

|Oct record high C = 43.1

|Nov record high C = 44.4

|Dec record high C = 47.4

|year record high C = 47.7

|Jan high C = 38.0

|Feb high C = 36.8

|Mar high C = 34.3

|Apr high C = 29.6

|May high C = 24.4

|Jun high C = 20.7

|Jul high C = 20.9

|Aug high C = 23.6

|Sep high C = 28.2

|Oct high C = 32.1

|Nov high C = 34.5

|Dec high C = 36.8

|year high C = 30.0

|Jan low C = 23.3

|Feb low C = 22.5

|Mar low C = 20.3

|Apr low C = 15.5

|May low C = 10.5

|Jun low C = 6.7

|Jul low C = 5.8

|Aug low C = 7.5

|Sep low C = 11.6

|Oct low C = 16.1

|Nov low C = 19.0

|Dec low C = 21.7

|year low C = 15.0

|Jan record low C = 13.9

|Feb record low C = 13.0

|Mar record low C = 9.0

|Apr record low C = 3.3

|May record low C = 0.0

|Jun record low C = -1.8

|Jul record low C = -5.0

|Aug record low C = -3.4

|Sep record low C = 0.0

|Oct record low C = 2.2

|Nov record low C = 6.9

|Dec record low C = 9.1

|year record low C = -5.0

|Jan rain mm = 31.0

|Feb rain mm = 32.6

|Mar rain mm = 30.4

|Apr rain mm = 17.7

|May rain mm = 14.8

|Jun rain mm = 17.9

|Jul rain mm = 11.3

|Aug rain mm = 8.4

|Sep rain mm = 5.6

|Oct rain mm = 15.6

|Nov rain mm = 24.4

|Dec rain mm = 33.1

|Jan rain days = 4.4

|Feb rain days = 4.0

|Mar rain days = 4.0

|Apr rain days = 3.2

|May rain days = 3.4

|Jun rain days = 3.5

|Jul rain days = 2.9

|Aug rain days = 1.9

|Sep rain days = 1.6

|Oct rain days = 3.0

|Nov rain days = 4.3

|Dec rain days = 5.2

|unit rain days = 0.2mm

|source 1 = Bureau of Meteorology{{BoM Aust stats|site_ref=cw_013011_All|site_name=Warburton Airfield|access-date=11 March 2025|date=March 2025}}

|date=March 2025}}

• Mr Ward

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal|last=Berndt, Ronald M.|author-link=Ronald Berndt|title=The 'Warburton Range' Controversy|journal=The Australian Quarterly| volume= 29|issue= 2|date= 1957|jstor=41317859| pages=29–44 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41317859}}
• {{cite journal | last1=McGrath | first1=Pamela Faye | last2=Brooks | first2=David | title=Aboriginal History – 'Their Darkest Hour': The Films and Photographs of William Grayden and the History of the 'Warburton Range Controversy' of 1957 | journal=Aboriginal History | volume=34 | url=https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=661042902941182;res=IELIND |eissn=1837-9389}}
• {{cite web | title=McLeod's View of Warburton Controversy | website=PilbaraStrike | date=17 July 1957 | url=https://www.pilbarastrike.org/content/mcleod%E2%80%99s-view-warburton-controversy | quote=Don McLeod to John Mills [Millar], 17 July 1957, Don McLeod Papers, State Library of Western Australia, MS 1568A/2/48.}} (Written by Don McLeod (Aboriginal rights activist) [https://www.anu.edu.au/about/campuses-facilities/events/don-mcleod-%E2%80%93-radical-activist-for-aboriginal-justice-in-the-pilbara] [https://www.monash.edu/arts/monash-indigenous-studies/news-and-events/articles/biography-of-an-australian-hero-interview-with-phd-alum-jan-richardson] [https://web.archive.org/web/20200308161049/https://indigenousrights.net.au/people/pagination/don_mcleod], see Pilbara#History.)

• [http://bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&cmd=sp&p=1591&st=&s=warburton Bonzle Australian Atlas reference page]
• [https://www.wilurarra.com.au/ Wilurarra Creative, Website]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyeiWXEXjTU Midnight Oil – The Stars of Warburton]
• [http://www.warburtonarts.com/english/ Warburton Arts Project]

{{Towns Goldfields-Esperance WA}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Towns in Western Australia

Category:Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku

Category:Aboriginal communities in Goldfields–Esperance

Category:1933 establishments in Australia

Category:Populated places established in 1933