Bidyadanga Community, Western Australia
| Bidyadanga Western Australia | |
|---|---|
  Bidyadanga | |
| Coordinates | 18°41′04″S121°46′39″E/ 18.68442°S 121.77748°E |
| Population | 555 (2016 census)[1] |
| Postcode(s) | 6725 |
| Location | 190 km (118 mi) S ofBroome, Western Australia |
| LGA(s) | Shire of Broome |
| State electorate(s) | Kimberley |
| Federal division(s) | Durack |
Bidyadanga,also known asLa Grange,is the largestAboriginal communityinWestern Australia,with a population of approximately 750 residents. It is located 180 kilometres (110 mi) south ofBroomeand 1,590 kilometres (990 mi) from the state capitalPerth,in theKimberleyregion. Thetraditional ownersof the land are theKarajarripeople, but is also home to the several otherlanguage groups.
Started as a governmentrationsdistribution point by the government in 1903, La Grange became amission stationrun by GermanPallotinemissionaries in 1955, before the formation ofBidyadanga Aboriginal Community La Grange(BACLG) in 1975, and subsequent independence from the mission in 1982.
Community
[edit]It is the largest Aboriginal community in the state and supports a population of approximately 750 people.[2]The community has been involved in publications of local stories.[3]
Governance
[edit]The Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community La Grange (BACLG) was incorporated in 1975 as a not-for-profit organisation to administer government-funded programs.[4]It was incorporated under theAboriginal Communities Act 1979(WA).
Town planning
[edit]Bidyadanga Layout Plan No.3was prepared in accordance with WA State Planning Policy 3.2 (Aboriginal Settlements). It was endorsed by the community on 15 November 2012 and theWestern Australian Planning Commissionon 28 May 2013.[5]
History
[edit]Early years
[edit]Located on Thangoo Station south of Broome, La Grange had been a government rations distribution post for Karajarri andNgungamadapeople. Being in thepearlingregion, there was much contact between Asianpearling crewsand local Aboriginal women. In 1903 and aconstableandtrackerwere stationed there. The WA administration prevented the localSalesiansfrom establishing a mission there. DuringWorld War II,German Pallottines made enquiries, but Germans were not allowed on the coast by theAustralian Army.In late 1948, desert people fromUdiallawere moved there by the government, and plans for a children's institution were mooted.[6]
In the 1950s, after two lay missionaries had started a school,FrankfurtanthropologistsHelmut Petriand his wife DrGisela Odermannbegan to conduct fieldwork at La Grange. In January 1956 the Pallottines, presided over by Fr. Hügel, took charge of the mission, anddormitories,a dining hall,hospitaland other buildings were built. Other missionaries joined them, and prayers, a collection ofBiblestories, and an outline of kinship terms were published in the local languages. It was considered an "enlightened" mission.[6]
In 1964 the mission was devastated by Cyclone Bessie, which destroyed the school, the hospital and all of the huts. The mission was financed and rebuilt by a combination of various Catholic funds and the Department of Native Affairs.[6]
By 1981 there were about 400 persons living at La Grange. In 1982 the community asked for independence from the mission, and after the 1983 Seaman Aboriginal Land inquiry, the Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community asked for the mission land to be transferred to them.[6]
Native title
[edit]In 2002 and 2004 the Karajarri had theirnative titlerights and interests recognised, over 31,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi) – about half the size ofTasmania– in the West Kimberley.[7]On 12 December 2002 the case known as "John Dudu Nangkiriny& Others on behalf of the Karajarri People v The State of Western Australia & Others ", or" Karajarri People (Area A) "(ref. WCD2002/001) determined that native title exists in the entire area.[8]
The claim to Area B was finalised on 8 September 2004, with "Nangkiriny v State of Western Australia [2004], FCA 1156", when it was determined that native title existed in parts of Area B only, giving the Karajarri non-exclusive native title rights over the land and waters in this area.[9]
Climate
[edit]Bidyadanga has ahot semi-arid climate(KöppenBSh) with a short and extremely variable[10]wet seasonfrom December to March and a long, hot, and generally rainlessdry seasonfrom April to November. The wet season is sweltering and humid though generally dry, but there are occasional extremely heavy downpours fromtropical cyclonesor other closed depressions developing from themonsoontrough to the north.[11]The variability of rainfall in this season is extreme, as seen by the fact that only 55.1 millimetres or 2.17 inches fell in the wet season of 1923–24, but as much as 1,229.8 millimetres or 48.42 inches between December 1999 and March 2000. The highest daily rainfall on record has been 286.0 millimetres (11.26 in) on 17 February, 2018, followed by 253.0 millimetres (9.96 in) on 19 March 1935. The dry season ranges from sweltering to merely hot in the afternoon, whilst mornings at the height of the dry season are pleasant and the very low humidity makes the heat less unpleasant.
Bidyadanga received Australia's highest May temperature of 40.6 °C (105.1 °F) on 6 May 1990 (as of May 2018[update]).[12]
| Climate data for Bidyadanga, Western Australia | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 45.7 (114.3) |
45.0 (113.0) |
44.0 (111.2) |
42.8 (109.0) |
40.6 (105.1) |
36.2 (97.2) |
36.6 (97.9) |
38.2 (100.8) |
42.4 (108.3) |
45.2 (113.4) |
46.5 (115.7) |
47.0 (116.6) |
47.0 (116.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 34.4 (93.9) |
34.1 (93.4) |
35.4 (95.7) |
35.7 (96.3) |
32.5 (90.5) |
29.8 (85.6) |
29.6 (85.3) |
31.1 (88.0) |
32.9 (91.2) |
34.4 (93.9) |
35.0 (95.0) |
35.0 (95.0) |
33.3 (91.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 26.0 (78.8) |
25.6 (78.1) |
24.9 (76.8) |
22.1 (71.8) |
18.4 (65.1) |
15.5 (59.9) |
14.1 (57.4) |
14.9 (58.8) |
17.6 (63.7) |
21.2 (70.2) |
24.1 (75.4) |
25.8 (78.4) |
20.8 (69.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 18.0 (64.4) |
16.7 (62.1) |
17.8 (64.0) |
11.7 (53.1) |
8.6 (47.5) |
3.9 (39.0) |
3.9 (39.0) |
5.0 (41.0) |
7.1 (44.8) |
8.9 (48.0) |
16.3 (61.3) |
17.0 (62.6) |
3.9 (39.0) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 129.1 (5.08) |
139.5 (5.49) |
94.9 (3.74) |
25.0 (0.98) |
25.0 (0.98) |
19.6 (0.77) |
8.2 (0.32) |
2.3 (0.09) |
1.3 (0.05) |
1.2 (0.05) |
7.6 (0.30) |
59.1 (2.33) |
512.8 (20.18) |
| Average rainy days | 6.3 | 6.2 | 4.5 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 25.1 |
| Average afternoonrelative humidity(%) | 65 | 67 | 59 | 46 | 42 | 39 | 37 | 37 | 45 | 54 | 57 | 62 | 51 |
| Source:[13] | |||||||||||||
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Australian Bureau of Statistics(27 June 2017)."Bidyadanga (ILOC)".2016 Census QuickStats.Retrieved18 March2018.
- ^Government of Western Australia (October 2008).Bidyadanga Community Layout Plan Number 2
- ^Bidyadanga Community; Thompson, Liz; Bidyadanga Community (2011),The danger seed: lirrinngkirn dreaming,Pearson Australia,ISBN978-1-4425-4694-3
- ^Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community, La Grange (2012),Bidyaganga Aboriginal Community La Grange Inc,Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community, La Grange Inc.,retrieved6 February2013
- ^"Bidyadanga Layout Plan 3: Background Report".Western Australian Planning Commission. May 2013.Retrieved8 December2019.
- ^abcd"La Grange Mission (Bidyadanga) (1924-1985)".German missionaries in Australia.Griffith University.Retrieved8 December2019.
- ^Weir, Jessica K. (2011),Karajarri: A West Kimberley experience in managing native title(PDF),AIATSIS Research Discussion Paper (No. 30), Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Native Title Research Unit,ISBN9780987135315,retrieved8 December2019,
This paper considers this 'next level'. What happens after the native title rights are recognised?
- ^"WCD2002/001 - Karajarri People (Area A)".National Native Title Tribunal.Australian Government.Retrieved8 December2019.
- ^Bourova, Evgenia; Dias, Nuwan (12 August 2011)."Bidyadanga Initial Works Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA)".ATNS(28 October 2011 ed.).Retrieved8 December2019.
- ^Dewar, Robert E. and Wallis, James R; ‘Geographical patterning of interannual rainfall variability in the tropics and near tropics: An L-moments approach’; inJournal of Climate,12; pp. 3457-3466
- ^Jackson, I.J. (1988). "Daily Rainfall over Northern Australia: Deviations from the World Pattern".Journal of Climatology.8(5): 463–476.Bibcode:1988IJCli...8..463J.doi:10.1002/joc.3370080503.
- ^"Extremes for May 2018".Bureau of Meteorology.Retrieved7 June2018.
- ^"Climate Statistics for Bidyadanga".Australian Bureau of Meteorology.Retrieved7 June2018.
Further reading
[edit]External links
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