Musgrave Ranges facts for kids

The Musgrave Ranges are a long chain of mountains in the middle of Australia. They sit right on the border between South Australia and the Northern Territory. These mountains act like a natural wall, separating the huge Great Victoria Desert in the south from the Gibson Desert in the north. The range stretches for about 210 kilometres (130 miles). Many of its peaks are taller than 1,100 metres (3,609 feet). The very highest point is Mount Woodroffe, which stands at 1,435 metres (4,708 feet) tall.

Who Lives in the Musgrave Ranges?

The Musgrave Ranges have been the home of the Yankunytjatjara people for thousands of years. They are the traditional owners of this land.

European Exploration and Naming

The first European explorer to find these mountains was an Englishman named William Gosse. He discovered them in the 1870s. Gosse decided to name the mountains after Anthony Musgrave, who was the Governor of South Australia at that time.

Movement of People

At the beginning of the 1900s, the Yankunytjatjara people started moving east. They set up camps along the Alberga River. Many also moved to the mission at Ernabella. Around 1917, some also moved south towards Ooldea.

Other groups, like the Pitjantjatjara people, were forced to move into the Musgrave region. This happened because a long drought made it very difficult to live in their own lands, which were the Mann and Tomkinson Ranges to the west. Today, most families living in the communities of Amata and Kaltjiti identify as Pitjantjatjara.

Land Rights for Indigenous People

In 1980, a special law called the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1980 was passed. This law gave the South Australian part of the Musgrave Ranges back to the Pitjantjatjara people. Since then, many people have chosen to move into more comfortable settlements in other areas.

See also

In Spanish: Montes Musgrave para niños