Ngaanyatjarraku, Western Australia /

The Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku is a remote local government area in Western Australia near Northern Territory/South Australian border. It is 1,542 km from Perth. It was formed on 1 July 1993 following a report of the Local Government Boundaries Commission in 1992. The Shire of Wiluna was divided with the eastern area becoming the new Shire. It is a community of interest within the traditional lands of the Ngaanyatjarra people of the Central Desert of Western Australia. The 99-year leases held by the Ngaanyatjarra Land Council on behalf of the traditional owners also form the boundaries of the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku. The Shire has 560 km of gravel road and is far from bitumen roads. The Federal Court of Australia on 29 June 2005 consented to the Native Title claim over approximately 187,700 square kilometres of land in the Central Desert Region in the Shires of Laverton and Ngaanyatjarraku. Ngaanyatjarra is the first language of most residents (65%, see below) with the other language significantly represented being Pitjantjatjara. The 2006 ABS Census indicated that the region's 1,335 residents comprised 46.9% males and 87.3% Indigenous Australians. Like other indigenous Australian