Papunya, Northern Territory

Papunya is a small community in central Australia. It is about 240 km (150 mi) northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The people who live there are Aboriginal people who were forced off their traditional country during the 1930s and 1940s. They are mainly from Pintupi- and Luritja-speaking groups. In the 2006 census, Papunya had a population of 299. The town is now on private Aboriginal land. People visiting or travelling through need a permit.

During the late 1950s, a Lutheran mission was set up at Papunya. In the 1970s, many of the people living here moved back to their homelands as part of the outstation movement. The Pintupi moved back west, closer to their homeland around Lake Mackay. They set up the town of Kintore in 1981, about 250 km (160 mi) west of Papunya. During this time, local painters were slowly forming a new style of art. By the mid-1980s, it became internationally known as Papunya Tula.