Warburton Campus

The Warburton community

Warburton (or Mirlirrtjarra) was established by the United Aboriginal Missionaries in the 1930’s. The missionaries built a school, a dormitory for children, a church, and a hospital. The nomadic Ngaanyatjarra people were gradually drawn to the Warburton mission and families from across the Lands settled nearby.

In the early days of the mission, Yarnangu people were able to acquire rations of blankets, tools and food so they did not need to travel to the goldfields region of Laverton for trading. The men traded dingo scalps for rations.

In the 1956 the first Education Department teachers were appointed and in 1961 the school became part of the government school system.

In 1972 the Warburton community became an incorporated body. Changes in government policy away from assimilation and towards self-determination and self-management encouraged the establishment of outstations on ancestral lands and the beginnings of other community settlements in the Lands.

In 2006 it was agreed that the schools in the various homeland communities, including Warburton, should become federated into the Ngaanyatjarra Lands School.

Services in our community

Warburton has an office, store, school, youth drop-in centre, youth creative arts centre, women’s centre, art centre, art gallery, church, workshop/garage, swimming pool, football oval, hall, police station, clinic, roadhouse, airstrip and radio transmission room.

Our campus facilities

Our campus facilities consist of two admin buildings, a library, a home economics room, six classrooms, a manual arts room, a teacher resources room, a sports shed and a garden shed.

Our students

Currently we have an enrolment of approximately 90 students from K-12.

Our teachers

Our staff consists of seven teachers and yarnangu educators (AIEOs)