Umuwa

History

Umuwa was established in 1991 as the administrative and service centre for the APY Lands, to move the governance from Alice Springs. The word kulilaya approximates to the meaning of "listen", and was the name of a land rights protest song that was sung frequently in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and since then sung regularly by the Ernabella Choir, the APY Choir, and the Iwiri Choir. Several inma ceremonies were performed, politicians from across the spectrum attended the festival, and performers included Dem Mob, Docker River Band, the Iwiri Choir, Mala, the Pukatja Band, and Desert Rain.

Geography

Umuwa is located approximately north-west of Marla and south-west of Alice Springs. Due to its links with the Northern Territory and proximity to the border, the APY Lands do not observe daylight savings unlike the rest of South Australia. The time zone observed throughout the year is Australian Central Standard Time (UTC+9:30), in line with Darwin rather than Adelaide. Umuwa has a subtropical desert climate (Köppen: BWh), with very hot, slightly wetter summers and mild, dry winters. Average maxima vary between in February and in June while average minima fluctuate between in January and in July. The mean average annual precipitation is definitely low: , spread between 39.5 precipitation days. The town is very sunny, experiencing 171.8 clear days and only 66.1 cloudy days per annum. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 12 January 1988 to on 7 July 2012. Climate data was taken from the nearest station at Marla.

Most-observed species

• Budgerigar

  Melopsittacus undulatus (Shaw, 1805) · Aves
  44
• Zebra Finch

  Taeniopygia guttata (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  33
• Yellow-throated Miner

  Manorina flavigula (Gould, 1840) · Aves
  30
• Singing Honeyeater

  Gavicalis virescens (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  28
• Black-faced Cuckooshrike

  Coracina novaehollandiae (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  27
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  26
• Rufous Whistler

  Pachycephala rufiventris (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  26
• Black-faced Woodswallow

  Artamus cinereus Vieillot, 1817 · Aves
  25

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2017-07-15
  138 km SE of Yulara, Australia
• M 5.3 — 2013-06-09
  139 km SE of Yulara, Australia
• M 5.3 — 2012-03-23
  140 km SE of Yulara, Australia
• M 4.3 — 2012-03-16
  133 km SE of Yulara, Australia
• M 4.5 — 2005-03-13
  120 km SSE of Yulara, Australia
• M 2.8 — 2004-09-02
  170 km SSE of Yulara, Australia