Youth Empowerment
Growing strong young leaders on Country. School holiday programs, bush trips with Elders, sport and leadership camps for young people across the homelands.
This is Urapuntja.
An Aboriginal community-controlled organisation supporting sixteen homelands along the Sandover River in Central Australia. Health care, culture, youth, employment and community enterprise, run by our own community since 1979.
Dusk on the homelands. Photograph by Urapuntja Health Service.
Need the clinic? Call (08) 8956 9875. In a life-threatening emergency call 000.
Sixteen homelands, one community
Utopia isn't one town. It's sixteen family homelands spread along the Sandover, and we drive to every one of them, every week.
← from Alice Springs, about 250 km
Artekerr
Three Bores
First stop on the run from Alice Springs
Camel Camp
In the south of the homelands, west of the Sandover
Ankerrapw
Utopia Homestead
Where the outreach health program began in 1977
Tommyhawk Swamp
On the southern stretch, near the old homestead
Arlparra
The biggest centre on the run, with store, school and airstrip
Inkwelaye
Kurrajong Bore
Served since the service's earliest days
Apungalindum
In the heart of the homelands, west of Arlparra
Atneltyey
Boundary Bore
On the western side of the homelands
Atnarara
Soakage Bore
Served since the service's earliest days
Arawerr
Soapy Bore
Home ground of the Soapy Bore Crows
Iylentye
Mosquito Bore
Just west of the clinic, off the highway
Atheley
The clinic's nearest neighbour, right on the highway
Amengernterneah
Urapuntja Health Service
Urapuntja clinic
Inkawenyerre
Rocket Range
On the northern stretch, past the clinic
Ngkwarlerlanem
Ngwalala
One of the northern homelands, toward Ampilatwatja
Indaringinya
Antarrengeny
The northernmost stop on the clinic run
Leaving Alice Springs
150 km
Every homeland, every week.
Nearly fifty years of wins on this road, and our new purpose-built mobile clinic is on the way.
See our achievementsDistances approximate, from the 2024 homelands map.
The local people had taken control, and the health service has been autonomous ever since.
Community-controlled from the beginning
Urapuntja began in 1979, when our community took over its own health care. We were one of the first Aboriginal community-controlled health services in Central Australia, and nearly fifty years later our Board is still our community. Decisions about health on the homelands are made on the homelands.
How community control works →
Nearly fifty years of wins for community →
Much more than a health service
Health on the homelands means more than a clinic. It means culture, young people, jobs and a future.
Health care
Primary health care at the clinic and out on the homelands, with Western medicine and traditional healing working side by side.
Clinic & services →Culture
Everything we do starts from culture: language, Country, the knowledge of our Elders and the authority of community.
Our story →Youth
Programs that grow strong young people on Country, in sport and into leadership.
Youth program →Employment & training
Real jobs and training pathways on the homelands, from health careers to horticulture.
Jobs & training →Community enterprise
Building economic independence through enterprises owned by and for the community.
Support us →Made on the homelands
Programs our community asked for, shaped by our people.
Farming
Fresh food grown on our own Country. A community farming project building food security, training and jobs on the homelands.
Bush Medicine
Two ways of healing, side by side. Traditional healers and bush medicine work alongside clinical care, as they have at Urapuntja since the beginning.
Soapy Bore Crows
Our football team, pride of the homelands. Footy that brings communities together and carries health messages where they matter.
Interim images from the homelands. Program photography to come, with permission.
Guided by our Board and Elders
Our directors are community members elected by community members, with Elders guiding everything we do.
Chairperson
Name to be confirmed
Published with permission once confirmed.
Senior Elder & Cultural Advisor
Name to be confirmed
Published with permission once confirmed.
Senior Elder & Cultural Advisor
Name to be confirmed
Published with permission once confirmed.
From the homelands
Welcome to our new website
A new home online for the story of Urapuntja. Our history, our homelands, our programs and our people.
Flu vaccinations available at the clinic
Winter flu vaccinations are now available for everyone in the community. Drop in or call the clinic.
Soapy Bore Crows season underway
The Crows have kicked off another season. Follow the team that brings the homelands together.