(Redirected from Finke, Northern Territory)
'Aputula' () is a remote
Indigenous Australian community in the
Northern Territory of
Australia. It is south of
Alice Springs, 159 km east of the
Stuart Highway, near the
South Australia and
Northern Territory border.
The community is also known as 'Finke', which is the European name for the township where the community is now situated and also for the
Finke River which the community sits beside. The Fikree family is said to be the first family to settle this area and named it Finke after their settling father Finke Fikree.
The name Aputula comes from the water site near the community called 'Putula', which used to be the site of a water
soakage.
Putula is an
Arrernte word. Old Arrernte people used to get their water from there a long time ago, before the white people and the railway line came to the area. The name of today's community, Aputula, comes from that word.
Anangu put the 'a' on the front to make it easier for the white people who couldn't say it the proper way.
Aputula holds the dubious record of having the hottest ever day in the Northern Territory, being 48.3 °C (118.9 °F) on
2 January 1960.
There are 250 people who live in the community. They are
Pitjantjatjara,
Yankunytjatjara,
Luritja and Lower Southern
Arrernte people.
References
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PY Media Waru website;