Pukaja Clinic

Eastern Musgrave Ranges in north western South Australia

Approximately 500

Pitjantjatjara / Yankunytjatjara

Access via Stuart Highway - road to Pukaja can sometimes become impassable due to wet conditions

TBC

Access may be limited due to road conditions please check before driving 4 wheel drive recommended

Ernabella was originally a mission established in 1937 by the Presbyterian church. Ernabella is in the eastern Musgrave Ranges in north western South Australia. The site was formerly an important waterhole and camping place for Yankunytjatjara people.
In 1933 a homestead was built on the site as the centre for a 1,295 sq km pastoral block, one of four leased to settlers in the region. The lease of Ernabella was transferred to the Presbyterian church four years later and the sheep industry maintained. A school was opened in 1940 with the children instructed in Pitjantjatjara and gospels, hymns and other materials translated into Pitjantjatjara. An indigenous method of spinning fibres was adapted to spinning wool from sheep to form a handcraft industry for women which developed from 1948 and later became Ernabella Arts Inc. When the sheep industry closed in 1972, batik fabric work became increasingly important in the craft industry.

In 1974, following the incorporation of Pukatja Community Inc, administration was transferred from the church to a local council. Since the early 1980s Pukatja has increasingly been used as an alternative name to Ernabella.
Ernabella land was included under the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act of 1981. The health centre was transferred to the Nganampa Health Service on its establishment in 1983.
Since the mid-1970s the community has initiated a range of progressive projects, including gardening by permaculture and Ernabella Video Television (EVTV).

Nganampa\

Health