Mintabie, South Australia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids MintabieSouth Australia |
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 Mintabie
Location in South Australia
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| Population | 30 (2017 GSA) | ||||||||
| Established | 1978 | ||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 5724 | ||||||||
| Elevation | 353 m (1,158 ft) | ||||||||
| Time zone | ACST (UTC+9:30) | ||||||||
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| LGA(s) | Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara | ||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Giles | ||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | Grey | ||||||||
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Mintabie is an opal mining community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY lands) in South Australia. It was unique in comparison to other communities situated in the APY Lands, in that its residents were largely not of Aboriginal Australian origin, and the land had been leased to the Government of South Australia for opal mining purposes since the 1980s.
Time zone
Due to its links with the Northern Territory and proximity to the border, the APY Lands do not observe daylight savings unlike the rest of South Australia. The time zone observed throughout the year is Australian Central Standard Time (UTC+9:30), in line with Darwin rather than Adelaide.
History
In 1981, Anangu won the inalienable freehold title to the APY Lands. This victory came at the end of protracted and often bitter negotiations. As part of those negotiations Anangu agreed to lease back to the Crown the small parcel of land on which the township of Mintabie sits.
When Anangu began their struggle for land rights in 1976, very little prospecting was being conducted at Mintabie. As things turned out, the push for land rights coincided with a rush on opal exploration. Consequently, by the time the South Australian Parliament began to seriously consider granting land rights to Anangu, a growing number of opal miners were setting up operations around Mintabie.
In November 1978, a Labor Government introduced a Bill to establish Pitjantjatjara land rights. Before long, a group of miners from Mintabie had expressed their strong opposition to the Bill.
The Bill was still before Parliament when a State Election was called. After the election, Anangu entered into a fresh round of negotiations with the newly elected Liberal Government. Those negotiations concluded on 2 October 1980, when the Pitjantjatjara Council - acting for all Anangu -formally reached an agreement with the Government on the provisions of a new Bill.
Introduced into Parliament on 23 October 1980, the "Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Bill 1980" proposed granting Anangu title to a large area of land including the township of Mintabie. At the same time, the Bill recognised that opal mining would continue at Mintabie and included provisions to control that activity. Certain occupancy rights were to be provided to prospectors but these would be balanced with processes that Anangu could use, if necessary, to have someone evicted from Mintabie.
On 25 November 1980, the Bill was referred to a Select Committee. In the course of its work the Committee visited both Mintabie and the Anangu community of Iwantja.
After extensive discussions with both the Pitjantjatjara Council and the Mintabie Progress Association, the Parliamentary Select Committee recommended that the area of land covering the township of Mintabie be included in the grant of land to Anangu but would be leased back to the Crown for a period of 21 years. Such an arrangement would enable the Crown to "issue Annual Licenses to persons entering... and wishing to reside" at Mintabie.
The Committee tabled its report on 3 March 1981 and the Bill proceeded through Parliament.
On 2 October 1981, the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1981 came into operation. On that day, under Section 28(2) of the Act, the township of Mintabie was "deemed to have been leased by Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara to the Crown for a term of twenty-one years."
Geography
Mintabie is situated west of the Stuart Highway and approximately 35 kilometres northwest of Marla and 980 kilometres northwest of the capital of South Australia, Adelaide. Mintabie is approximately 200 kilometres south of the Northern Territory border.
Mintabie sits in a geographical basin. It is therefore not surprising that there is a lake basin near Mintabie.
The parcel of land on which Mintabie sits is leased by the State government from Anangu. The original township lease expired in 2002. On 3 December 2009, the South Australian Parliament passed the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights (Mintabie) Amendment Act 2009. This legislation creates the framework for a new lease.
Climate
Based upon the climate records of the nearest weather station at Marla Police Station, Mintabie experiences summer maximum temperatures of an average of 37.1 degrees Celsius in January and a winter maximum average temperature of 19.7 degrees Celsius in June. Overnight lows range from a mean minimum temperature of 21.8 degrees in January to 5.0 degrees in June.
Annual rainfall averages 222.6 millimetres.
Native fauna
Native animal species commonly found in and about Mintabie include the galah, thorny devil and netted dragon lizard and the larger lizard variety known as goanna.
Population
In October 2017, the Government of South Australia estimated that Mintabie's population was about 30 people, although it was acknowledged this increased to about 60 people at different times of the year. During the 1970s and 1980s, it had a population of over 500 people.
Facilities
Mintabie has an "all-weather" airstrip, school, and 7-day supply of fuel and services. Accommodation is catered for by the Mintabie Hotel (Goanna Grill and Bar) which has 6 rooms, 2 self-contained units and also a 24-hour power caravan park. Mintabie also has another caravan park.
The Mintabie health clinic, called the "Clarice Megaw Clinic" was opened in 1990 and so named in honour of a bequest from a deceased estate which enabled health authorities to commit more resources to the region. This has now been sold by Frontier Services for an undisclosed amount to a private buyer.
The Mintabie Area School is a R-12 school with approximately 20 students. By 2009 this had fallen to only 11 enrolments. Mintabie does not have a permanent police presence but patrols are conducted in the town by the police station located at Marla.
A permit from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara is required to access Mintabie, as the land is owned freehold by the resident Aboriginal people. Currently this is not being enforced because of unresolved issues.
For State elections (i.e. to elect the Parliament of South Australia), a mobile polling booth is taken to Mintabie.
