Kaltukatjara ( English Docker River ) is a village in the southwest of the Australian state of Northern Territory , which was founded in 1968. It is located 670 kilometers southwest of Alice Springs near the border with South Australia and Western Australia . The village is in a wadi called Docker Creek . The 2016 census showed 394 inhabitants.
The aboriginal settlement of Kaltukatjara was named by Ernest Giles during his 1872 Docker River expedition. The pastors Duguid and the German Carl Strehlow searched the area in the 1930s to form a mission office for the Aborigines from the tribe of Anangu from the Pitjantjatjara and Ngaatjatjarra speak. Later, in the 1930s and 1940s, the natives of the area were deported to the Lutheran mission station in Hermannsburg , one of the Aboriginal missions . In the 1960s there were efforts by the Aborigines to return to their country of origin, which was achieved with government support from 1967 to 1968. With the receipt of the Aboriginal Lands Rights Act (NT) , the Anangu got their original land back to an extent of 44,970 km².
In 2009 6,000 dromedaries overran the village several times in search of water. An emergency cull of 3604 camels was carried out at a cost of just under AUD 50,000.
There are water tanks and a sewage system in the village. An electricity connection is guaranteed by three diesel generators. The roads within the village are paved, but the so-called Petermann Road , the main route to the village, is not. There are shops, a school, a Lutheran church, public telephones, and courts for Australian football and basketball .
climate
The nearest weather station is in Giles , about 80 kilometers to the west. All of the following information relates to this location.
The average maximum temperatures in summer (January) are 37.3 ° C, in winter (July) 20.0 ° C. The minimum nighttime temperature averages 23.6 ° C in January and 6.8 ° C in July. The annual amount of precipitation is 286.4 mm. The highest temperature ever measured was 45.7 ° C (on January 16, 2013), the lowest –1.6 ° C (on June 22, 1981).
Average monthly temperatures and precipitation for Giles (about 80 km west of Kaltukatjara)
