Warburton, Western Australia

One of the most isolated communities in Australia, it is a former Aboriginal Mission near the Warburton Ranges. Warburton is the regional centre for the Ngaanyatjarra Aboriginal people.
Location: 900 km north east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder; 1550 km north east of Perth, situated on the Gibson Desert plain to the north of the Great Victoria Desert on the Great Central Road between Laverton and Uluru.
Origin of name: taken from the name given to the United Aborigines Mission established by missionaries Will and Iris Wade in 1933. The mission was named after explorer Col. Peter Egerton Warburton (1813 - 1889).
Brief history: the earliest known contacts between Yarnangu and Europeans were in the late 1800s with explorers such as Warburton, Giles, Forrest, Tietkins and Carnegie. At the end of the 19th century the early explorers were followed by gold seekers, doggers, missionaries, miners and into the 1950s, road makers, Woomera Weapons Research personnel, the staff at Giles Weather station and others.
Natural features: Baker Lake; Munilli Nature Reserve (250 km north-west); ranges of the Western Desert (Walter James Range; Warburton Hills; Blackstone Range; Rawlinson Range; Sir Fredrick Range); Balwalina Central Australia and Warburton Aboriginal Reserves
Built features: Warburton Aboriginal Mission buildings; Walter James Range Aboriginal art sites, Western Desert.