Maralinga Tjarutja

The Maralinga Tjarutja are the Indigenous Australian people who traditionally inhabit the remote western areas of South Australia. They are a Southern Pitjantjatjara people.

The lands of the Maralinga Tjarutja bear their own name. These lands, in South Australia's remote west, comprise Maralinga Tjaruta, one of the four local government areas of South Australia classified an Aboriginal Council (AC). The area measures 102863.6 km², making it the largest local government area of South Australia by area (followed by Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara to the north, which is nearly as large), with a population of only 105, all in the community of Oak Valley.

The Maralinga people had been moved from their lands in the 1950s to allow British nuclear tests. The Maralinga Tjarutja native title land was handed back to the Maralinga people in January 1985 under legislation passed by both houses of the South Australian Parliament in December 1984 and proclaimed in January 1985. Maralinga people resettled on the land in 1995 and named the main community Oak Valley Community.