Kintore, Northern Territory

History

The Kintore Range was named by William Tietkens during his expedition of 1889 after the Governor of South Australia, Algernon Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore.

In 1979 and 1980 satisfactory water was found in four bores sunk at and near the Kintore Range. In mid-1981 an outstation (homeland) was established there and developed as a resource centre for camps elsewhere in the region, allowing the reoccupation of at least some of the Pintupi country. The community was founded in 1981, when many Pintupi people who lived in the community of Papunya (about 240 km from Alice Springs) became unhappy with their circumstances in what they saw as foreign country, and decided to move back to their own country, from which they had been forcibly removed decades earlier due to weapons testing from Woomera in South Australia, as part of the outstation movement.

Demographics

At the 2016 census, Kintore had a population of 410, of which 376 (91.9 per cent) identified themselves as Aboriginal Australians.

The main languages spoken are Pintupi and Luritja. In Pintupi, the majority language of the community, Kintore is known as Walungurru ().

Governance

Kintore is overseen by the MacDonnell Regional Council, based in Alice Springs.

The town is in the territory electorate of Gwoja

Facilities

The community has a Northern Territory Government-funded primary school, an independent store trading as Puli Kutjarra (meaning Two Rocks/mountains in Pintupi language), an airstrip, an independent health clinic called Pintupi Homelands Health Service, a women's centre called Ngintaka Women's Centre, haemodialysis at The Purple House run by Western Desert Dialysis, a high school run by Yirara College,

The local Australian rules football team is the Kintore Hawks.

Art centre

There is an arts centre run by Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd.

Kintore is a major centre for the Western Desert art movement which began at the community of Papunya. These people traditionally passed on significant Dreamtime stories by way of art using sand, rock and local plants. Nowadays such paintings are done on canvas and have gained worldwide popularity. A number of members of the famous Aboriginal art company Papunya Tula] live at Kintore, among them the deceased artist Ningura Napurrula.

In popular culture

Kintore is mentioned in the Midnight Oil song "Beds are Burning": "Four wheels scare the cockatoos/From Kintore east to Yuendumu".

British novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin stayed in Kintore for a two week period, starting 18 March 1984, while researching his book The Songlines. The village plays a central role in the story, referred to in the book as "Cullen".

Climate

|Jan record high C = 47.4 |Feb record high C = 46.4 |Mar record high C = 45.1 |Apr record high C = 41.1 |May record high C = 34.9 |Jun record high C = 32.8 |Jul record high C = 32.3 |Aug record high C = 37.5 |Sep record high C = 39.0 |Oct record high C = 43.0 |Nov record high C = 45.3 |Dec record high C = 47.7 | year record high C = 47.7 |Jan record low C = 16.1 |Feb record low C = 18.0 |Mar record low C = 13.7 |Apr record low C = 11.6 |May record low C = 6.2 |Jun record low C = 2.4 |Jul record low C = 3.1 |Aug record low C = 3.3 |Sep record low C = 8.3 |Oct record low C = 8.9 |Nov record low C = 10.4 |Dec record low C = 14.3 | year record low C = 2.4

Footnotes

References

References

1. "Search results for 'Petermann (Locality)'". Northern Territory Government.
2. {{Census 2016 AUS
3. "Kintore Postcode". postcode-finders.com.au.
4. "Kintore". Australias Guide Pty Ltd..
5. "Monthly climate statistics: Summary Walungurru Airport (nearest weather station)". Commonwealth of Australia, Bureau of Meteorology.
6. "Kintore". Northern Territory Government.
7. "Localities within the Tanami sub-region (CP 5083)". Northern Territory Government.
8. "Kintore". [[Northern Territory Government]].
9. (1989). "Leaving the Desert: Actors and Sufferers in the Aboriginal Exodus from the Western Desert". Aboriginal History.
10. (24 September 2010). "2016 federal election: profile of the electoral division of Lingiari (NT)".
11. "Western Desert Dialysis".
12. "Yirara College of the Finke River Mission Inc.".
13. (Summer 2014). "Community Development News". [[Central Land Council]].
14. "Ningura Napurrula :: The Collection :: Art Gallery NSW".
15. Mueller, Andrew. (11 March 2014). "Australian anthems: Midnight Oil – Beds are Burning".
16. (4 September 2008). ""Beds Are Burning" - Midnight Oil, 1987 (rock)".
17. Shakespeare, Nicholas (1999). Bruce Chatwin. The Harvill Press. ISBN 1-86046-544-7. Page 499