Tanami Downs is located in Northern Territory
Tanami Downs
Tanami Downs
Location in Northern Territory

20°33′54″S 129°43′25″E / 20.56500°S 129.72361°E / -20.56500; 129.72361 (Tanami Downs) Tanami Downs (formerly Mongrel Downs) is an Indigenous Australian-owned cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Geography

Tanami Downs station covers approximately 4,200 square kilometres (1,600 sq mi) [1] of the Northern Territory, about 650 kilometres (400 mi) north-west of Alice Springs.

Tanami Downs lies within the Tanami bioregion of hot, dry country, in which the dominant vegetation is spinifex hummock grassland.[2] Though drought-prone and semi-arid, Tanami Downs has some mountainous areas with permanent water, and its northern parts have plains suitable for cattle grazing.[3]

History and administration

Indigenous ownership of Tanami Downs was recognised through the Tanami Downs Land Claim. The claim was lodged in June 1989,[3] and the report under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 recognising the claim, was delivered in early 1992.[4] Title to the land was officially handed to the traditional owners on 21 December 1992.[3]

The land is owned by the Mungkurrupa Land Trust, which represents the traditional owners, while the station is operated by a board comprising a mix of traditional owners, an outside representative of another pastoral station, and an agricultural consultant.[5]

Notable residents (and traditional owners) of Tanami Downs include Indigenous artists Biddy Rockman Napaljarri and Peggy Rockman Napaljarri.[4] It is also where artist and author Kim Mahood grew up, and features heavily in her two biographies Craft for a Dry Lake (2000) and Position Doubtful: mapping landscapes and memories (2016).[6]

See also

References

  1. "Tanami Downs : "Mongrel" station has new future". Central Land Council. March 1993. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  2. "Rangelands - Tanami". Australian Natural Resources Atlas. Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. 2000–2002. Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 ""Mongrel" station has new future: Tanami Downs Land Claim". Land Rights News. Central Land Council. March 1993. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  4. 1 2 Justice Olney (1992). "Tanami Downs Land Claim: Findings, Recommendation and Report" (PDF). Report No. 42. Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  5. "New management for Tanami Downs" (PDF). Land Rights News. Central Land Council. April 2009. p. 7. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  6. Wyndham, Susan (15 August 2016). "Kim Mahood returns to the Tanami Desert again and again in Position Doubtful". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
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