Warburton (Western Australia)

Warburton
State :  Australia State : Western Australia Founded : 1933
Coordinates : 26 ° 13 ′  S , 126 ° 40 ′  E Coordinates: 26 ° 13 ′  S , 126 ° 40 ′  E Height : 459  m
Residents : 585 (2016)
Time zone : AWST (UTC + 8) Postal code : 6431 LGA : Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku
Warburton

The settlement Warburton the Aborigines is in Australia in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia , 1050 kilometers southwest of Alice Springs and 560 kilometers northeast of the town Laverton . Warburton can be reached via the Outback Highway and Gunbarrel Highway . Warburton is known for the fact that there are numerous Aboriginal painters there, and that the Warburton art project that originated there represents an opportunity for the Aborigines to live their own culture and way of life on their own and without government aid.

history

The Ngaanyatjarra Aborigines , who lived in the central desert of Australia, were nomads for millennia who wandered the desert in search of water and food. When European missionaries came there, this changed and the Aborigines settled in Warburton from 1933. The missionary Will Wade founded a mission station and named it after the explorer Peter Warburton , who was the first European to cross the Great Sand Desert .

In 1954 between 500 and 700 Aborigines lived in the place where there were kindergartens and schools. They learned English and the missionaries wanted to teach them European culture. Aboriginal women and girls were proficient in sowing, cooking, and housekeeping. The men made a living from hunting the dingo skins. There was a copper mine where the men worked and the last nomads of the central desert settled around 1970.

In 1973 the Ngaanyatjarra received an assurance from the Australian state on their traditional land for a period of 99 years. The Ngaanyatjarra Council established by them formed the administration of the traditional land, and this administration successfully built an aviation company, a construction company, a road construction company and a freight forwarding company for transporting food. These businesses are run by the Aborigines.

Life and work

Warburton has an absolute alcohol ban and tourists need a permit to enter the site.

There is a school for children in Warburton and a Ngaanyatjarra Community College, which opened in August 1996 to provide an education for adults. A health center with four nurses, a Warburton Roadhouse with overnight accommodation and twelve campsites is located there. The Warburton Recording Studio is also run by fourteen young Aborigines who produce videos for the local market.

The Aborigines in Warburton still hunt, collect edibles, and live according to traditional customs as they did in the past. The tribal elders, the so-called elders, teach the young Aborigines traditional hunting, gathering and cooking in the bush.

Warburton art project

To preserve and cultivate their culture, the Ngaanyatjarra founded the Warburton Arts Project in 1990 . This project includes not only Warburton, but also other settlements: Karilwara (Patjarr), Wingellina (Irrunytju), Blackstone (Papulankutja), Kiwirrkura , Jameson (Mantamaru), Tjirrkarli, Wanarn, Tjukurla and Warakurna. In this project it is consciously tried not to change or influence the culture of the Aborigines living there, so that their “ dream time ” (tradition) is preserved and can be lived. As part of the project, an art gallery and painter's workshop was built in Warburton where Aboriginal people can exhibit their work. A selection of 350 acrylic pictures is now shown in a gallery building. In addition to painting, Warburton produces artistic glasswork. The glass works not only include autonomous works of art, objects for everyday use are also produced, the sale of which contributes to a stable economic basis for the project.

There are also other initiatives: a rock program with song and dance was organized, as well as performances with ceremonies of the Ngaanyatjarra, publications and the organization of exhibitions in other locations. Artists of the project exhibited in numerous galleries: in the Araluen Arts Center ( Alice Springs ), in the Australian Artbank in Sydney , Melbourne and Perth , in the Curtin University in Perth and Sydney, in the Western Australian Museum in Perth, in the National Museum Australia in Canberra , in the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory , Darwin . Various institutions promote the work of the artists of Warburton, such as the Australian Heritage Council , which was founded in 2003 to replace the Australian Heritage Commission, the Country Arts Western Australia (artsWA), the Australian High Commission to Malaysia.

Web links

• "Ngaanyatjarra Dreaming": The Warburton Arts Project ( English ) Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Archived from the original on May 5, 2005. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
• Artwork Search ( English ) "tjulyuru.com" - Tjulyuru Cultural and Civic Center. Archived from the original on August 20, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
• Communities: The Ngaanyatjarra People ( English ) "tjulyuru.com" - Tjulyuru Cultural and Civic Center. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2014.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics : Warburton (State Suburb) ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
2. ^ Warburton Community Details ( English ) "tjulyuru.com" - Tjulyuru Cultural and Civic Center. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
3. ^ Ngaanyatjarra Regional Arts: Warburton Arts Project ( English ) "tjulyuru.com" - Tjulyuru Cultural and Civic Center. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2014.