Tangentyere Council

They are the direct result of the dispossession of Aboriginal people from their traditional lands, and there is a strong history of opposition to them.

Despite this opposition the camps survived, avoiding measures to remove or assimilate them, and from the 1970s have campaigned to actively assert their rights, demanding land tenure, shelter, essential services and self-determination.

[2] The organisation soon developed to incorporate the provision of family, community and social services.

[3][4] Tangentyere is a derivative of tunkatjira an Arrernte word meaning "all speaking together", and it aimed to unite Aboriginal people in Central Australia from all of the language and people groups, including Warlpiri, Anmatyerre, Kaytetye, Pitjantjatjara, Luritja, Alyawarre and Pintupi.

[5] Despite significant steps forward is housing services to town camps, from humpies and bits of tin to houses, the living standards of their residents remain unacceptably low,[4] and it is partially for this reason that Tangentyere Council now offers a wide range of social services and runs not-for-profit enterprises.