{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2012}} {{Infobox Australian place | type = town | name = Ooldea | state = sa | image = G22 + goods train, Ooldea, 1919.jpg | caption = A wood and water train in Ooldea, 1919. | image_alt = | relief = | coordinates = {{coord|30.459139|S|131.835615|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coord_ref = <ref name="LMV">{{cite web |title=Search results for 'Ooldea, LOCU' with the following datasets being selected – 'Suburbs and Localities', 'Local Government Areas', 'SA Government Regions', 'Railways' and 'Gazetteer' |url= http://location.sa.gov.au/viewer/?map=roads&x=131.83053&y=-30.46243&z=13&uids=19,11,20,105,134&pinx=131.836980&piny=-30.457730&pinTitle=Location&pinText=Ooldea,+Locu |website=Location SA Map Viewer|publisher=Government of South Australia|access-date=5 August 2018}}</ref> | pushpin_label_position = | map_alt = | pop = | pop_year = | pop_footnotes = | poprank = | density = | density_footnotes = | established = | established_footnotes = | abolished = | gazetted = | postcode = | elevation = | elevation_footnotes = | area = | area_footnotes = | timezone = | utc = | timezone-dst = | utc-dst = | dist1 = 863 | dir1 = | location1 = Port Augusta | dist2 = 143 | dir2 = | location2 = Eyre Highway | lga = Pastoral Unincorporated Area<ref name="LMV"/> | region = | county = | stategov = Giles<ref name=Giles>{{cite web|title=District of Giles Background Profile|url= http://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/component/edocman/?task=document.download&id=500&Itemid=0 |publisher=ELECTORAL COMMISSION SA|access-date=20 August 2015}}</ref> | fedgov = Grey<ref name=AEC>{{cite web|title=Federal electoral division of Grey, boundary gazetted 16 December 2011|url= http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/sa/files/2011/2011-aec-a4-map-sa-grey.pdf |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission|access-date=20 August 2015}}</ref> | url = | maxtemp = | maxtemp_footnotes = | mintemp = | mintemp_footnotes = | rainfall = | rainfall_footnotes = | near-n = | near-ne = | near-e = | near-se = | near-s = | near-sw = | near-w = | near-nw = | near = | footnotes = }}
'''Ooldea''', known as '''Yuldea''' and various other names by Western Desert peoples (Aṉangu), is a tiny settlement in South Australia. It is on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain, {{convert|863|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of Port Augusta on the Trans-Australian Railway. Ooldea is {{convert|143|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the bitumen Eyre Highway.
The site had a permanent waterhole, '''Ooldea Soak''', also known as "Yooldil Kapi" in the language of the Aṉangu. The presence of the water caused it to become the site of a camp for railway construction workers in the early 20th century, and the '''Ooldea Mission''' from 1933 to 1952. The soak dried up and the site was closed to the public in 1991.
==History== The soak, known as Yooldil Kapi to the Aboriginal peoples of the area, and Ooldea Soak to the European settlers, made it an important camp during construction of the Trans-Australian Railway.<ref name=bremer2023/> The soak is a permanent clay pan waterhole surrounded by sand dunes, first discovered by Europeans when Ernest Giles used it in 1875. On 17 October 1917, the final link of the railway was completed at Ooldea, linking the western section from Kalgoorlie to the eastern section to Port Augusta.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27457851|title=The last link.|date=18 October 1917|newspaper=The West Australian|access-date=17 October 2017|issue=4,850|location=Western Australia|volume=XXXIII|page=4|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> It was around this time that a severe drought<ref>{{Cite web |title=Environment - National Drought 1918 |website= Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub |url=https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/environment-national-drought-1918/ |access-date=2022-06-02 }}</ref> led many desert people to migrate closer to the waterhole, increasing pressure on the limited water resources now largely reserved for use by trains.<ref>{{Cite web |title='Ooldea Soak description' |url=https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/collection/archives/provenances/series/items/aa-640-3-246 |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=South Australian Museum}}</ref> A centenary celebration was held at the siding in 2017.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Celebrating rail's unite nation, 100 years on|last=Taylor|first=Paige|date=17 October 2017|work=The Australian}}</ref>
The settler town that sprung up was named Ooldea, but was also referred to as Yuldea, Youldul, Yuldeh, or Yultulyngya.<ref name=bremer2023/>
It was the site of a mission known as Ooldea Mission, established by the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) in 1933. It later included a children's dormitory housing around 60 children. In 1938 an Aboriginal reserve was created covering the land around the mission.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/sa/SE00146| website=Find & Connect| title=Ooldea Mission (1933–1952)|access-date= 18 October 2021}}</ref> The mission was visited twice by Norman Tindale and was home for many years to Daisy Bates, both concerned with understanding and protecting Aboriginal culture. A cairn commemorating Bates was designed by F. Millward Grey and erected in 1953.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93864482 |title=Memorials To Mrs. Daisy Bates. |newspaper=The Chronicle |location=Adelaide |date=20 December 1951 |access-date=16 February 2015 |page=33 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
In the 1950s, areas around Maralinga and Emu were used for nuclear testing by the British Government. Around this time the Australian Government resumed much Anangu land to be used for the Woomera Rocket testing Range. Aboriginal people in the area, who were Pila Nguru (Spinifex people, of the Great Victoria Desert) were moved to the Ooldea Mission, which closed in 1952 due to internal divisions in the church. The people did not want to move from there, as they were used to ranging the desert, and had used the Ooldea Soak as a water source for many generations.<ref name=brady1999>{{cite journal | last=Brady | first=Maggie | title=The politics of space and mobility: controlling the Ooldea/Yalata Aborigines, 1952–1982 | journal=Aboriginal History | publisher=ANU Press | volume=23 | year=1999 | issn=0314-8769| jstor=24046757 | pages=1–14 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24046757 | access-date=18 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/sa/SE00146| website=Find & Connect| title=Ooldea Mission (1933–1952)|access-date= 18 October 2021}}</ref>
The people were forcibly moved to a reserve established by the South Australian Government on a former sheep station at Yalata, where Yalata Mission was established by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia. This was an environment quite alien to them, being desert people.<ref name=brady1999/>
The town was dependent on the ''Tea & Sugar'' train for the delivery of supplies until 1996 when the train was withdrawn.<ref>The Tea & Sugar Train: Lifeline in Australia's Outback ''National Geographic'' June 1986 pages 737-757</ref><ref>Australia's longest delivery service ''Network'' February 1973 page 4</ref><ref>Tea & Sugar bites the dust ''Railway Digest'' October 1996 page 21</ref> The longest dead straight section of railway line in the world starts west of Ooldea before Watson at the 797 km post and continues to a point between Loongana and Nurina, a distance of {{convert|478|km|mi|abbr=on}}.
The historic Ooldea Soak and Former United Aborigines Mission Site and Daisy Bates' Campsite are both listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://apps.planning.sa.gov.au/HeritageSearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=4 | title=Ooldea Soak and former United Aborigines Mission Site (designated place of archaeological significance) | publisher=Department of Environment, Water & Natural Resources| work=South Australian Heritage Register | access-date=12 February 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://apps.planning.sa.gov.au/HeritageSearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=1 | title=Daisy Bates' Campsite | publisher=Department of Environment, Water & Natural Resources | work=South Australian Heritage Register | access-date=12 February 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Yooldil Kapi was handed back to the Aṉangu people in 1991 and is {{as of|2023|lc=yes}} closed to the public.<ref name=bremer2023>{{cite web | last=Bremer | first=Rudi | title=In Bangarra's new work Yuldea, Frances Rings peels back Indigenous, colonial and personal history, inspired by a precious water source | website=ABC News | date=5 August 2023 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-06/frances-rings-yuldea-bangarra-dance-theatre-ooldea/102674594 | access-date=22 August 2023}}</ref>
==In the arts== In 2023, Bangarra Dance Theatre performed a work choreographed by their artistic director, Kokatha woman Frances Rings, called ''Yuldea'', which tells the story of the colonisation of the area from an Aboriginal perspective.<ref name=bremer2023/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050622091615/http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindale/ooldea1934.htm SA Museum – Norman Tindale]
== External links == {{Commons category-inline|Ooldea, South Australia}} *{{cite web | title=The sands of Ooldea |first=Mike| last=Ladd| website=ABC Radio National| series= The History Listen | date=March 2020|format=Audio (4 x 30–40 mins) + text| url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-history-listen/the-sands-of-ooldea-collection/12010542}}
{{Aboriginal South Australians}} {{authority control}} Category:Towns in South Australia Category:Nullarbor Plain Category:Trans-Australian Railway