Yalata, South Australia

Yalata is an Aboriginal community on the coast of South Australia. It is about west of Ceduna. The reserve, Yalata Aboriginal Land, covers and spans about of the Eyre Highway. It is one of 74 local government areas in South Australia.
The people who originally live in this region are Wirangu and Mirning. However, most of the people who live at Yalata are Pitjantjatjara, who originally come from the north (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara). They speak a southern dialect of the Pitjantjatjara language. This is spoken as a first language in most homes (58% in 2006). The other groups making up the land's traditional owners are the Kokatha, Yankunytjatjara, Antakirinja, Pindiini and Ngalea, which are all nations of the Western Desert.
Pitjantjatjara were forced to move here by the Australian government in the 1950s. Large parts of their land in the north were made into the Woomera Test Range, a weapons testing area. The families were first moved south, to a Christian mission at Ooldea. They were moved to Yalata, even further south, in 1952. This second move was done because of nuclear-weapon tests being done at Maralinga and Emu Field. The title to the lands around Maralinga (Maralinga Tjarutja) was given back to the Aboriginal people by the South Australian Parliament in December 1984. People from Yalata and further inland resettled on the land in 1995.
A total of 82% of residents identify their main religion as Lutheran.