About Alinytjara Wilurara Landscape Board*
The Alinytjara Wilurara (AW) Landscape region covers the north west third of South Australia. In Pitjantjatjara, 'alinytjara' means 'north' and 'wilurara' means 'west'.
The AW NRM region covers more than 250,000 square kilometres, stretching from the Northern Territory and West Australian borders south to the Great Australian Bight. The regional boundary extends to the edge of the State Waters (three nautical miles off-shore) in the Great Australian Bight and includes the South Australian part of the Great Australian Bight Marine Park. The land and its 340 kilometres of coastline are mostly dedicated to conservation and traditional Aboriginal use and occupation. The homelands and community townships are inhabited by approximately 4,000 people. The region is managed as nine distinct sub-landscapes.
There is no privately owned land in the region. More than half of AW is held as dedicated Aboriginal lands and is owned or in the trust of three key land holding authorities:
- Yalata (vested in the Aboriginal Lands Trust under the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966)
- Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands (vested in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara under the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1981)
- Maralinga Tjarutja (MT) Lands (vested in the Maralinga Tjarutja under the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act 1984)
The region also includes areas adjoining the Yalata and Maralinga Tjarutja Lands, dedicated under the National Parks and Wildlife Act:
- Mamungari Conservation Park
- Tallaringa Nature Reserve
- Yumbarra Nature Reserve
- Pureba Nature Reserve
- Nullarbor Regional Reserve
- Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area
- Yellabinna Nature Reserve
- Yellabinna Wilderness Protection Area.
The AW NRM region is diverse in its fauna, flora and cultural heritage. With some of the hottest and most remote areas in South Australia and no permanent rivers or creeks, water is a limiting factor throughout the region.
*Formerly Natural Resources Alinytjara Wilurara. Note that from the 1 July 2020, landscape regions replaced NRM regions in South Australia.