Yuendumu

Yuendumu was established in 1946 by the Native Affairs Branch of the Australian Government to deliver rations and welfare services;Meggitt, 1962:28; O'Grady, 1955: ch. 8. the first superintendent was Francis McGarry.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nintione.com.au/resources/rao/francis-mcgarry-and-the-little-flower-black-mission-encounters-of-a-catholic-lay-missionary-with-indigenous-people-of-central-australia-1935-1944/ |title=Francis McGarry and the 'little flower black mission': Encounters of a Catholic lay missionary with indigenous people of central Australia 1935-1944 |website=Ninti One |language=en-US |access-date=2020-01-27}} In 1947 the Australian Baptist Home Mission was established there.[http://www.bwa-baptist-heritage.org/bap-ab.htm Baptists in Australia]; O'Grady, 1955:118.{{Cite web |url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nt/biogs/YE00056b.htm |title=Yuendumu Native Settlement - Organisation - Find & Connect - Northern Territory |last=Find & Connect Web Resource Project |first=The University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University |website=findandconnect.gov.au |language=en-gb |access-date=2020-01-27}} By 1955 many of the Aboriginal people had settled in the town.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Yuendumu lies on the edge of the Tanami Desert, north-west of Alice Springs within the Yuendumu Aboriginal Lands Trust area, on traditional Anmatyerr land. It includes numerous outstations, and the area borders Mount Doreen, Mount Denison, Central Mount Wedge and Mount Allan pastoral properties. It takes about three hours to drive along the mostly sealed road from Alice Springs to Yuendumu via the Tanami Road, which branches off the Stuart Highway {{cvt|25|km}} north of Alice Springs.{{cite web |title=Yuendumu – Major |website=BushTel |publisher=Northern Territory Government |url=https://bushtel.nt.gov.au/profile/198 |access-date=17 March 2021}}

It is within the Central Desert Region (formerly Central Desert Shire) council area.{{cite map |url=https://bams.nt.gov.au/dtw/bams/public/pdfslaps/slp-198.pdf |title=Yuendumu |author=Central Desert Shire Council |date=14 September 2011 |series=SLAP Map, 198}}

The community is largely made up of the Warlpiri and Anmatyerr Aboriginal people, with a population of 759 at the 2016 Australian census.[https://bushtel.nt.gov.au/profile/123 BushTel - Remote Communities of the Northern Territory][https://bushtel.nt.gov.au/profile/750 BushTel - Remote Communities of the Northern Territory]

Yuendumu is a dry community. Possession of alcoholic beverages by any person, including visitors, is prohibited.{{cite web|url=https://www.ntrlp.com.au/sites/default/files/2024-06/240620_NTRLP_Community%20Profile_Yuendumu.pdf |title=NT Locum Program: Yuendumu |page=4 }}

{{Clear}}

{{Gallery|File:Yuendumu Gold 01.jpg

|A Yuendumu man holding a boomerang, photographed in 2017 by Ed Gold

|alt1=

|File:Yuendumu Gold 04.jpg

|Digging for honeypot ants near Yuendumu

|alt2=

|File:Yuendumu Gold 03.jpg

|Juka Juka, near Yuendumu

|alt5=

|File:Yuendumu Gold 17.jpg

|A family outside their home

|alt4=

}}

{{further|Indigenous Australian art|Contemporary Indigenous Australian art}}

In 1982 five Warlpiri elders started painting in a bright "fauve art" style on the 30 doors of the Yuendumu primary school, in a project which became known as the Yuendumu Doors. Their paintings illustrated 36 ancient designs known as kuruwarri (also spelt kurawarri), to teach the children their people's Jukurrpa (often translated as Dreamtime stories), and established the elders as important teachers of the youth.{{cite web |title=Tradition and Transformation |website=National Gallery of Victoria |date=12 March 2011 |url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/ngvschools/TraditionAndTransformation/communities/Warlukurlangu-Artists/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312155600/http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/ngvschools/TraditionAndTransformation/communities/Warlukurlangu-Artists/ |archive-date=12 March 2011 |url-status=dead}} The five men who painted the doors were:

Paddy Jupurrurla Nelson, Roy Jupurrurla Curtis, Paddy Japaljarri Stewart, Paddy Japaljarri Sims, and Larry Jungarrayi Spencer.{{cite web |last=Mabin |first=Saskia |title=History-changing Yuendemu Doors lead Indigenous dreaming art to China and beyond |website=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=17 July 2021 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-17/yuendumu-doors-exhibition-in-china/100278100 |access-date=2 August 2021}}

The painting of the doors started the whole Warlpiri art movement, and in addition became a powerful symbol of elders caring for children, and helping them in "two-way education". In the mid-1990s, the doors were removed when the school was upgraded in the mid-1990s, the doors were transferred to the South Australian Museum, where they are held today (2021).{{cite web |title=Yuendumu School Doors |website=Aboriginal Art Online |date=10 November 2017 |url=http://www.aboriginalartonline.com:80/regions/yuendumu-doors.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110153804/http://www.aboriginalartonline.com:80/regions/yuendumu-doors.php |archive-date=10 November 2017 |url-status=dead |access-date=2 August 2021}}

In 2021, the South Australian Museum, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the National Museum of Australia mounted an exhibition consisting of posters of the doors, to be displayed in Australian embassies around the world, starting with Chengdu in China.

Anthropologist Françoise Dussart provided encouragement to the women to make and sell art, and after some time, the men granted permission to the women to use dots in their acrylic paintings. In 1985 the Warlukurlangu Artists Association was founded at Yuendumu by door painters Stewart and Sims, along with several other senior men and women, including Dolly Nampijinpa Daniels, Darby Jampijinpa Ross, Jack Jakamarra Ross, Samson Japaljarri Martin and senior women including Uni Nampijinpa Martin, Rosie Nangala Fleming and Maggie Napangardi Watson Incorporated in 1986, it is now called Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation.{{cite web |title=History |website=Warlukurlangu |date=2021 |url=https://warlu.com/about/history/ |access-date=2 August 2021}}

Other notable artists who have painted with Warlukurlangu include Kumanjayi Nelson Napaljarri,{{cite book |last=Birnberg |first=Margo |author2=Janusz Kreczmanski |title=Aboriginal Artist Dictionary of Biographies: Australian Western, Central Desert and Kimberley Region |publisher=J.B. Publishing |location=Marleston, South Australia |year=2004 |page=203 |isbn=978-1-876622-47-3}} Norah Nelson Napaljarri,{{cite book |last=Birnberg |first=Margo |author2=Janusz Kreczmanski |title=Aboriginal Artist Dictionary of Biographies: Australian Western, Central Desert and Kimberley Region |publisher=J.B. Publishing |location=Marleston, South Australia |year=2004 |page=209 |isbn=978-1-876622-47-3}} Sheila Brown Napaljarri,{{cite book |last=Birnberg |first=Margo |author2=Janusz Kreczmanski |title=Aboriginal Artist Dictionary of Biographies: Australian Western, Central Desert and Kimberley Region |publisher=J.B. Publishing |location=Marleston, South Australia |year=2004 |page=212 |isbn=978-1-876622-47-3}} and Judy Watson Napangardi.{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2016/05/19/vale-judy-napangardi-watson-warlpiri-artist-force-nature/ |title=Vale Judy Napangardi Watson, 1925 - 2016 - Warlpiri artist and force of nature - The Northern Myth |last=Gosford |first=Robert |date=2016-05-19 |website=The Northern Myth |language=en-US |access-date=2016-05-19}}

Contemporary Indigenous Australian artist Kumanjayi Napaljarri Kennedy was a senior woman at Yuendumu,{{cite book |last=Birnberg |first=Margo |author2=Janusz Kreczmanski |title=Aboriginal Artist Dictionary of Biographies: Australian Western, Central Desert and Kimberley Region |publisher=J.B. Publishing |location=Marleston, South Australia |year=2004 |page=206 |isbn=978-1-876622-47-3}} a member of the community council,{{cite web |url=http://www.daao.org.au/main/read/3687 |title=Lucy Napaljarri |year=2007 |work=Dictionary of Australian Artists Online |access-date=2009-08-27}} and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1994, for services to the Yuendumu community.{{cite web |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/874604 |title=Australian Honours Search Facility: Kennedy, Lucy Napaljarri |work=It's an honour |publisher=Australian Government. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=2 August 2021}} Artist Maggie Napaljarri Ross has received the Order of Australia for her work in establishing the Yuendumu Night Patrol.{{cite book |last=Birnberg |first=Margo |author2=Janusz Kreczmanski |title=Aboriginal Artist Dictionary of Biographies: Australian Western, Central Desert and Kimberley Region |publisher=J.B. Publishing |location=Marleston, South Australia |year=2004 |page=207 |isbn=978-1-876622-47-3}}

The art centre produces over 10,000 paintings each year, and sells the same number. In 2022, more than {{AUD|250,000}} worth of art by Warlukurlangu Artists sold at the three-day Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair.{{cite web | last=Haskin | first=Emma | title=Warlukurlangu artists from Yuendumu sell 250k in paintings at Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair | website=ABC News| publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=17 August 2022 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-17/warlukurlangu-artists-yuendumu-darwin-aboriginal-art-fair/101334794 | access-date=28 August 2022}}

For over 25 years the community has also been home to Pintubi Anmatjere Warlpiri (PAW) Media, (formerly Warlpiri Media Association),[http://www.pawmedia.com.au Warlpiri Media Association] most famously producing Bush Mechanics,{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20011023183017/http://www.bushmechanics.com/ Bush Mechanics!]}}[http://www.abc.net.au/tv/documentaries/stories/s359476.htm ABC TV Documentaries: Bush Mechanics] and Aboriginal Rules,[http://www.aboriginalrules.com/ Aboriginal Rules] which explored the social meaning of Australian rules football in remote communities.

The 2001 TV series Bush Mechanics was located in and around Yuendumu,{{cite web |last=Korff |first=Jens |title=Bush Mechanics (Film) |website=Creative Spirits |date=21 December 2018 |url=https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/bush-mechanics |access-date=20 August 2020}} and an exhibition and book celebrated the iconic series in 2018/2019.{{cite web |title=Bush Mechanics: The Exhibition Goes on Tour |website=The Upsider |date=23 February 2018 |url=https://theupsider.com.au/bush-mechanics-exhibition/6367 |access-date=20 August 2020}}{{cite book |title=A book entitled Bush mechanics: from Yuendumu to the world was |first=Mandy |last=Paul |editor-first=Michelangelo |editor-last=Bolognese |date=2017 |isbn=9781743055151 |oclc=1003642387 |publisher=Wakefield Press |quote=This catalogue and the exhibition it accompanies are the result of a partnership between the National Motor Museum (a museum of the History Trust of South Australia) and Pintubi Anmatjere Warlpiri (PAW) Media |access-date=20 August 2020 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1003642387}} (Worldcat entry)

Services and facilities available in Yuendumu include three community stores, Yuendumu Mediation Centre,

school,[http://www.yuendumuschool.nt.edu.au Yuendumu CEC] airstrip, swimming pool,[http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/10/28/macklin-gets-out-the-scissors-as-yuendumu-pool-opens/ Macklin gets out the scissors as Yuendumu pool opens | Crikey] the Warlukurlangu art centre, an Aboriginal media organisation (PAW Media), a church, an elderly people's program, women's centre and safe house. Yuendumu retains links with other communities within the region, including Yuelamu, Papunya, Lajamanu, Willowra and Nyirripi.

Yuendumu is home of the Yuendumu Magpies football team,[http://www.yuendumumagpies.com Under Construction: yuendumumagpies.com] who play in the Central Australian Football League (CAFL) (formerly playing in the Ngurratjuta 'Country' Cup). Yuendumu won the inaugural season of the new Alice Springs competition in 2008.{{cite web |url=http://www.footballcentralaustralia.com/afl-football-alice-springs/premiers |title=Central Australian Football League Premiers 1947-2008 |website=footballcentralaustralia.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724150757/http://www.footballcentralaustralia.com/afl-football-alice-springs/premiers |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 July 2009 |access-date=2 March 2023 |language=en}}

Yuendumu hosts its annual sports weekend in the first week of August. The event includes football, basketball and softball competitions, attracting teams from other communities around the region. There is also a "Battle of the Bands" night which showcases local bands.

{{main|Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation}}

Yuendumu elders founded the Mt Theo Program in 1993, to divert youth from an epidemic of petrol sniffing, which has become a model for substance abuse prevention and youth diversion/development in remote Australian communities.[http://www.mttheo.org Mt Theo Program] In 2007, Johnny Japangardi Miller "Hooker Creek",[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1135033 It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours] Peggy Nampijimpa Brown[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1134858 It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours] and Andrew Stojanovski[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1135128 It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours] were awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for their efforts in founding the program and "for service to the community of Yuendumu and the surrounding region of the Northern Territory through programs addressing substance abuse among Indigenous youth". The program grew into a number of services, now administered by the Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation.{{cite web |title=About Us |website=Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation |url=http://wydac.org.au/home/about-us/ |access-date=20 August 2020}}

Yuendumu leaders who were awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001, which commemorates 100 years of Federation and recognises "citizens and other people who made a contribution to Australian society or government" include Wendy Nungarrayi Brown[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1121719 It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours] and Rex Granites.[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1126153 It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours]

Yuendumu is the home community of Indigenous activist and former NT Government minister Bess Nungarrayi Price and, although not born there, her daughter Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is closely associated with the community as it is her mothers country.{{Cite news |date=2023-09-15 |title='I don't know where she gets information from': Aboriginal health workers 'saddened' by senator's colonisation claims |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-16/community-reacts-to-jacinta-price-speech/102861154 |access-date=2023-11-14}}

One of the early residents at Yuendumu was Minyana Tjakamara who while there worked with anthropologists and filmmakers.{{Cite book |last1=Kimber |first1=Dick |url=https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/492231 |title=Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography |publisher=Charles Darwin University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780980457810 |edition=Rev |location=Darwin |pages=403-404 |chapter=Tjakamara Minyana also known as King Minyana (c1882 - 1969)}}

Artist Pauline Nakamarra Woods grew up in Yuendumu.{{cite web |title=Pauline Nakamarra Woods b. 1949 |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/pauline-nakamarra-woods/ |website=Design and Art Australia Online |accessdate=18 March 2021}}

Artist Kumantje Jagamara went to the mission school in Yuendumu.{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Vivien |title=Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biographical Dictionary |publisher=Craftsman house |year=1994 |isbn=978-976-8097-81-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2IBUAAAAMAAJ }}

Artist Alma Nungarrayi Granites lived in Yuendumu.{{cite book |url=https://www.amaga.org.au/sites/default/files/uploaded-content/website-content/Conferences/2015/mitchell_ma2015.pdf |title=A Cultural Cacophony: Museum Perspectives and Projects |chapter="To the city for dancing": The Women Artists collection and the birth of commercial art practice at Yuendumu |pages=86–102 |author=Scott Mitchell |year=2016 |isbn=9781741384499 |publisher=Museums Galleries Australia (NSW) |accessdate=31 March 2022}}

Nurse Ellen Kettle was the first permanent nursing sister in Yuendumu and worked there between 1952 and 1954; she would go on pioneer health services in the NT.{{Cite web |last=Melbourne |first=The University of |title=Kettle, Ellen Sarah - Woman - The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia |url=https://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0716b.htm |access-date=2023-11-14 |website=www.womenaustralia.info |language=en-gb}}

Local Yuendumu footballer Liam Jurrah was drafted into the Australian Football League and starred for the Melbourne Football Club.[http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/stynes-delivers-on-promise/2009/11/13/1258043793893.html In the red dirt Demon president delivers on promise - RFNews - theage.com.au]

The town is mentioned in the 1987 Midnight Oil song "Beds are Burning" (from the Diesel and Dust album): Four wheels scare the cockatoos/From Kintore east to Yuendumu. Midnight Oil and Warumpi Band's 1986 tour to Yuendumu is documented in Andrew McMillan's book Strict Rules: The BlackfellaWhitefella Tour.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

In The 2005 PlayStation 2 Video Game Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, the second chapter "Rumble Down Under" takes place in a fictional Yuendumu in the Australian outback, which is a mining and digging site. Uluru is depicted as surrounding the game's version of Yuendemu.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

{{Weather box|location = Yuendumu, elevation {{convert|667|m|ft|abbr=on}}, (1991–2019 normals, extremes 1965–2019)

|metric first = Y

|single line = Y

|width= auto

|collapsed = Y

|Jan record high C = 46.5

|Feb record high C = 43.2

|Mar record high C = 42.6

|Apr record high C = 39.0

|May record high C = 34.8

|Jun record high C = 32.5

|Jul record high C = 31.1

|Aug record high C = 35.2

|Sep record high C = 38.2

|Oct record high C = 41.2

|Nov record high C = 45.6

|Dec record high C = 44.8

|Jan record low C = 13.5

|Feb record low C = 12.3

|Mar record low C = 9.3

|Apr record low C = 5.4

|May record low C = 0.4

|Jun record low C = -1.1

|Jul record low C = -2.0

|Aug record low C = -1.4

|Sep record low C = 3.1

|Oct record low C = 5.9

|Nov record low C = 8.4

|Dec record low C = 12.1

|Jan high C = 36.9

|Feb high C = 35.8

|Mar high C = 34.4

|Apr high C = 31.3

|May high C = 25.8

|Jun high C = 22.5

|Jul high C = 23.1

|Aug high C = 25.7

|Sep high C = 30.7

|Oct high C = 33.7

|Nov high C = 35.6

|Dec high C = 36.3

|Jan low C = 22.9

|Feb low C = 22.4

|Mar low C = 20.4

|Apr low C = 16.1

|May low C = 11.1

|Jun low C = 7.7

|Jul low C = 6.7

|Aug low C = 8.2

|Sep low C = 13.4

|Oct low C = 17.0

|Nov low C = 20.0

|Dec low C = 21.6

|rain colour = green

|Jan rain mm = 81.5

|Feb rain mm = 60.3

|Mar rain mm = 47.5

|Apr rain mm = 17.7

|May rain mm = 24.4

|Jun rain mm = 11.6

|Jul rain mm = 12.6

|Aug rain mm = 3.8

|Sep rain mm = 9.7

|Oct rain mm = 23.9

|Nov rain mm = 32.4

|Dec rain mm = 57.6

|unit rain days = 1.0 mm

|Jan rain days = 5.8

|Feb rain days = 5.3

|Mar rain days = 3.3

|Apr rain days = 1.2

|May rain days = 2.4

|Jun rain days = 1.7

|Jul rain days = 1.2

|Aug rain days = 0.5

|Sep rain days = 1.5

|Oct rain days = 2.9

|Nov rain days = 3.8

|Dec rain days = 5.2

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

| url = http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/cvg/av?p_stn_num=015528&p_prim_element_index=0&p_comp_element_index=0&redraw=null&p_display_type=statistics_summary&normals_years=1991-2020&tablesizebutt=normal

| title = Climate statistics for Australian locations- YUENDUMU

| date = 7 April 2024}}{{BoM Aust stats |site_ref=cw_015528 |site_name=Yuendumu |access-date=26 November 2011}}

|date=January 2012

}}

{{reflist}}

• Campbell, Liam (2006) Darby: One hundred years of life in a changing culture, Sydney, ABC Books.
• Daly A and Barrett G. (2014) Independent Cost Benefit Analysis of the Yuendumu Mediation and Justice Committee Alice Springs: Central Desert Regional Council. https://www.centraldesert.nt.gov.au/sites/centraldesert.nt.gov.au/files/attachments/yuendumu_cba_0.pdf
• Dussart, Francoise (2000) The politics of ritual in an aboriginal settlement: kinship, gender, and the currency of knowledge, Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Meggitt, Mervyn J. (1962) Desert people: A study of the Walpiri Aborigines of Central Australia, Angus & Robertson, London.
• Musharbash, Yasmine (2008) Yuendumu everyday: intimacy, immediacy and mobility in a remote Aboriginal settlement, Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press
• Musharbash, Yasmine (2002) "Yuendumu CDEP: The Warlpiri work ethic and Kardiya staff turnover", pp. 153 – 166 in F. Morphy and W.G. Sanders (ed), The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme Research Monograph No. 21, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University E Press
• O'Grady, Frank (1955), Francis of Central Australia, Sydney, Wentworth Books.

{{commons category|Yuendumu, Northern Territory}}

• [http://wydac.org.au Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation - formerly Mt Theo Program]
• [http://www.pawmedia.com.au PAW Media and Communications - formerly Warlpiri Media Association]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100503012559/http://www.bushmechanics.com/ Bush Mechanics]}}
• [http://www.warlu.com/about/ Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association]
• [http://www.abc.net.au/message/blackarts/visual/s643710.htm Yuendumu artists]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090313113420/http://yuendumu.nt.gov.au/ Yuendumu community council]
• [https://www.facebook.com/yuendumumagpies/ Yuendumu Magpies Football Club]
• [http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/ The Northern Myth]

{{Localities and communities of the Central Desert Region|state=collapsed}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Towns in the Northern Territory

Category:Central Desert Region

Category:Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory

Category:Populated places established in 1946

Category:1946 establishments in Australia

Category:Tanami Desert

Category:Warlpiri