Ltyentye Apurte Community Government Council
History
The mission run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart at Arltunga was moved to Santa Teresa in 1953. It included a Mission school and dormitories which accommodated Aboriginal children aged 5 to 17 years. Hospital care was provided. Father Thomas Dixon was responsible for the church.
In 1976, administration was passed from the Mission to an Aboriginal land trust and the community was renamed Ltyentye Apurte. Although the residential section of the Mission school was closed in the same year, the day school remains operational and in the hands of the church.
The Keringke Arts Centre was established in 1989. Since 2007 women in the community have painted religious crosses which are exported to Catholic churches around the world.
In 1996, the population was recorded at 458, rising to 932 in 2011 and to 684 in 2016 and 708 in 2021.
According to data from the 2011 census, Santa Teresa is the most Catholic place in Australia.
On November 1, 2023, a landmark legal case was won in the High Court by two public housing tenants in Santa Teresa. The court ruled that NT Housing was liable for any emotional distress caused due to a failure to maintain the houses, and as such the tenants can sue for damages.
Governance
The community is governed by a Community Government Council which runs the health service (with dialysis room) and some other facilities. The community contains a Catholic primary/senior school, police station, airstrip and Catholic Church. Since 1 July 2008, the MacDonnell Shire is the responsible local government for the area.
Sport
Australian rules football is popular there, with matches played at the Santa Teresa Local Stadium which was resurfaced from sand loam to grass in 2021 through a project in partnership with the AFL's Melbourne Football Club Red and Blue Foundation.
Awards
In 2019, Ltyentye Apurte won the Australian Tidy Town Awards competition and is named Australian most sustainable Community.
References
- ^ "Santa Teresa | MacDonnell Council".
- ^ "Native Mission Moves to Better Site". Advocate. Vol. LXXXV, no. 5064. Victoria, Australia. 14 August 1952. p. 8. Retrieved 19 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.; Santa Teresa and East Aranda history, 1929-1988, compiled by John Pye (Coleman's Printing, Darwin, 1989).
- ^ Find and Connect: Santa Teresa Mission (1953-1977).
- ^ National Archives of Australia, Darwin Office, Series F1 1954/64: Roman Catholic Mission Santa Teresa.
- ^ "Santa Teresa Mission - Organisation - Find & Connect - Northern Territory". Find & Connect.
- ^ N. Lee, Santa Teresa celebrates, ABC Alice Springs, 4 Sept 2009; Keringke : contemporary eastern Arrernte art, Jukurrpa Books, Alice Springs, 1999, ISBN 1864650079.
- ^ E. Haskin, From Antarctica to the Vatican, remote Indigenous community sends crosses to the world, ABC Alice Springs, 19 Sept 2017.
- ^ "2016.7 - Census of Population and Housing: Selected Characteristics for Urban Centres and Localities, Northern Territory, 1996". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 29 January 1998. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ "2011 census QuickStats: Santa Teresa". Australian Bureau of Statistics.
- ^ "Santa Teresa - Demographics". Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ "E-news bulletin" (PDF). Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Pastoral Research Office. No. 21. 1 March 2013. p. 1. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
- ^ "High Court rules NT Housing liable for impact of lack of repairs on public housing". ABC News. 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ Western Desert Dialysis
- ^ Foundation, Australian Sports. "Santa Teresa Oval Project". asf.org.au. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ "Santa Teresa named Australian's most Sustainable Community". Keep Australia Beautiful. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.