Tanami Desert not Arunta

by Jeff Cole
(Alice Springs)

You say "Most of the Tanami Desert is Aboriginal land, belonging to the Arunta people".

The Arrernte (=Arunta) language group does not get into the Tanami Desert. The majority of the Tanami is Warlpiri country with several other language groups occupying the periphery.

The Rufous Hare-wallaby (Mala) no longer exists in the wild in the NT. This species was wiped out by wildfire which probably spread from a roadside camp fire with the remnants being picked off by a fox.

Jeff Cole

Comments for Tanami Desert not Arunta

Click here to add your own comments

Thank You!
by: Birgit

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for writing.
How embarrassing... It's been fixed.
(I swear, it's not like I don't know Arrernte live in the Alice Springs area and the MacDonnell Ranges. I have no idea how their name ended up on the Tanami page... Typo isn't the right word for it, but I certainly didn't mean to write that!)

Thanks again for alerting me to it. I appreciate it.

Regarding the mala, the page actually refers to the nineties, not the present, and it also mentions the role the foxes had. However, I shall reword it and make clearer that the mala is indeed gone.

Mala
by: Nick

Jeff Cole, are you meaning to say that the Tanami Desert population is now gone? I am just doing a bit of a project on these guys.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Australian Outback Travel Questions.

Return to top

Return to Outback Australia Travel Guide home page