Oombulgurri Community, Western Australia

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Oombulgurri
Western Australia
Population: 300
Established: 1970s
Postcode: 6740
Elevation: 385 m (1,263 ft)
Location:
LGA: Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley
State District: Kimberley
Federal Division: Kalgoorlie
Mean Max Temp Mean Min Temp Rainfall
33.1 °C
92 °F		 18.6 °C
65 °F		 1,106.6 mm
43.6 in

Oombulgurri ( 15°10′52.39″S, 127°50′44.93″E, postcode: 6740), also written as Umbulgara, is an Aboriginal community in the eastern Kimberley, with a population of 300. The nearest town is Wyndham, which is 45 km to the southeast; the nearest major town is Kununurra, which is 120 km to the southeast.

Contents

[edit] Mission establishment

The Anglican Forrest River Mission for Aborigines was founded in 1896-1897 by Harold Hale but was abandoned after a few months. A permanent mission, known as the Forrest River Mission, was established on the site in 1913 by the bishop of the north west, the Rt. Rev. Gerard Trower. In December 1913, Anglican priest Ernest Gribble took charge, three years after he was forced to resign as superintendent at Yarrabah. Gribble remained as superintendent until the early 1930s.

The mission was plagued by an influenza epidemic in 1926. Also in that year, there was a massacre where a police party killed several Aboriginal people. However, the exact events of the massacre are uncertain.

The mission was closed in 1969, after the 1967 Aboriginal referendum.

In 1973, fifty Aboriginal people decided to resettle their abandoned tribal land and rename it Oombulgurri. Within a year, the population had grown to 200. Infrastructure and welfare programs were set up in the 1970s and 1980s to provide the residents with basic amenities and to allow the town to become self-sufficient.

[edit] Access

Oombulgurri is only reliably accessible by boat or by air, as the unsealed road leading to the town is washed out most of the year due to the wet season. There is an airstrip nearby for light aircraft.

[edit] Coronial Inquest into Aboriginal Deaths

In 2007 a Coronial Inquiry began into aboriginal deaths in the Kimberley (five from Ommbulgurri). [1] [2] [3]

[edit] Child sex investigation

A Police task force operation sheepshank began after a report was compiled on an alleged paedophile ring at the Aboriginal community of Kalumburu, in the Kimberley resulting in arrests of three men and a juvenile from Oombulgurri. [4] [5] [6] [7]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Kimberley coronial inquests extended
  2. ^ The Western Australian coroner is set to visit Oombulgurri today as part of an inquest into five Aboriginal deaths at the remote Kimberley community.
  3. ^ Inquest hears damning evidence
  4. ^ Former Aboriginal community leader arrested on child sex charges
  5. ^ Three people from the remote Kimberley Aboriginal community of Oombulgurri have been charged with child sex offences.
  6. ^ Community denies trying to thwart child abuse investigation
  7. ^ Police lay more child sex offences in Kimberley

[edit] References

[edit] External links