Balgo, Western Australia

Balgo, also called Wirrimanu, is a small settlement of Aboriginal people in Western Australia. The town lies on the Tanami Track between the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert, 280 km south-east of Halls Creek and 830 km north- west of Alice Springs. It houses a large artist 's cooperative of the Aborigines.

Place

The establishment of Baldo goes back to the Aboriginal mission station Balgo Hills, about 20 km west of the present Baldo emerged in the 1940s and was abandoned in the 1960s due to lack of water.

Through the present site leads the dirt Tanami Track. Baldo consists of about 70 houses. There is a gas station, a supermarket, a Catholic church and a school, an arts and cultural center, a hospital and a police station.

The place located in Luurnpa - school writing and illustrating their teaching materials on CDs or DVDs in English and in Kukatja, one of the Aboriginal languages ​​of the Western Desert. The school has also published a dictionary of Kukatja language.

Most of the inhabitants speak Kukatja, further also Walmajarri, Jaru, Pintupi, Warlpiri and Kriol is spoken. Most adults who live in the village, proficient in three languages.

In Balgo up to 500 people, including a large number of artists such as Eubena ( Yupinya ) Nampitjin, Elizabeth Nyumi, Brandy Tjungurrayi, Boxer Milner, Sam Tjampitjin, Helicopter Tjungurrayi, Tjumpo Tjapanangka and Pauline Sunfly live.

The artists come from different language groups as Kukatja, Walmatjarri, Ngarti, Jaru, Wangkatjungka, Pintupi and Warlpiri. 1987 Art Cooperative Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation was founded and built a building for exhibition purposes. The artists work especially colorful acrylic paintings and now also prints and glass art. Her themes are taken from the Dreamtime and treat the landscape with rivers, coolamons and sand dunes.