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Anmatyerr

Aboriginal Australian people of Central Australia

The Anmatyerr (also spelt Anmatyerre, Anmatjera, Anmatjirra, Amatjere and other variations) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, who speak one of the Upper Arrernte languages.

01Language

Anmatyerr is divided into Eastern and Western dialects, both dialects of Upper Arrernte. The linguist Jennifer Green has been key to documenting the Anmatyerr language and the anthropologist Jason M. Gibson has written about Anmatyerr history, language and ceremonial practice.

02Country

In 1974 the traditional lands of the Anmatyerr people in N.B. Tindale's Aboriginal Tribes of Australia were described as covering an area of 2.9 million hectares (7.2 million acres). He specifies its central features as encompassing the Forster Range, Mount Leichhardt (Arnka), Coniston, Stuart Bluff Range to the east of West Bluff; the Hann and Reynolds Ranges (Arwerlt Atwaty); the Burt Plain north of Rembrandt Rocks and Connor Well. Their eastern frontier went as far as Woodgreen. To the northeast, their borders lay around central Mount Stuart (Amakweng) and Harper Springs.

03Communities

Anmatyerr communities located within the region include Nturiya (Old Ti Tree Station), Ti-Tree Pmara Jutunta (6 Mile), Willowra, Laramba (Napperby Station) and Alyuen. What is today known as the Anmatyerr region has overlap with Warlpiri, Arrernte and Alyawarr language communities. Many people come from two or three different language groups. The Utopia community, 250 km (160 mi) northeast of Alice Springs, and set up in 1927, is partly on Alyawarr land, partly on land of the Anmatyerr. As a specialist in Arandic culture and language T. G. H Strehlow also worked with Anmatyerr people throughout his career, recording much of their ceremonial traditions.

04Alternative names

  • Anmatjara
  • Imatjera
  • Janmadjara/Janmadjari (Warlpiri exonym)
  • Janmatjiri (Pintupi exonym)
  • Nmatjera
  • Unmatjera (mainly an Aranda exonym)
  • Urmitchee
  • Yanmedjara, Yanmadjari

05Notable people

Watch videos about AnmatyerrExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Anmatyerr, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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