Musgrave Ranges

Musgrave Ranges is a mountain range in Central Australia. It covers the boundary of South Australia (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) and the Northern Territory (MacDonnell Shire).^[1] It separates the Great Victoria Desert to the south and the Gibson Desert to the north. The range has a length of 210 kilometres (130 mi). Many of its peaks have a height of more than 1,100 metres (3,609 ft). The highest peak is Mount Woodroffe at 1,435 metres (4,708 ft).^[1]

The mountains were originally the home of Yankunytjatjara people.^[2] The first European to find them was the English explorer William Gosse in the 1870s. He named them after Anthony Musgrave,^[3] the Governor of South Australia at the time. At the start of the 20th century, Yankunytjatjara people began migrating east, setting up camps along the Alberga River and moving into the mission at Ernabella. From 1917, they also began a movement southward to Ooldea. Groups of Pitjantjatjara were forced to move to the Musgrave region because of a long drought in their territory, the Mann and Tomkinson Ranges in the west. Today, most of the families in the communities of Amata and Kaltjiti identify as Pitjantjatjara.^[4]

The South Australian part of the Musgrave Ranges was granted to the Pitjantjatjara people in the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1980.^[5] Since then, most people have moved into settlements in more hospitable areas.

References

1. "Musgrave Ranges". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2009-01-15. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
2. Anthropology U.C.L.A. University of California, Los Angeles Dept. of Anthropology. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles. 1981.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
3. Room, Adrian (1989). Dictionary of World Place Names Derived from British Names. Taylor & Francis. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-415-02811-0. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
4. Eleanor Leacock; Richard Lee and Richard B. Lee (Sep 1982). Politics and History in Band Societies. Cambridge University Press. p. 470. ISBN 978-0-5212-8412-7.
5. "Architect of South Australian Land Rights". Indigenous Law Bulletin. 4 (18): 23. 1999. Archived from the original on 2009-01-15. Retrieved 2009-01-15.

20.267°S 128.517°E / -20.267; 128.517