WARUMUNGU AND WARLMANPA COUNTRY
Banka Banka West Station lies on the traditional land of Warumungu and Warlmanpa people.
Ancient ancestral beings gave form to the land during the Wirnkarra Dreamtime.
During the Winkarra, Punkurr Punkurr Spring was greated, after which Banka Banka Station was named.
In 2010 the property was purchased by the Australian Government’s Indigenious Land and Sea Corporation ( ILSC) on behalf of the Aboriginal people. In 2020 the Federal Court of Australia recognised that the Kunapa, Kangwarla, Kanturrpa, Marnitkara, Ngarrka and Pirrtangu Aboriginal groups hold Native Title to Banka Banka West Station.
EUROPEAN AND MILITARY HISTORY
For over a century, Banka Banka West has been a popular rest stop for travellers.
In 1860, John McDouall Stuart passed through the area searching for a route between Adelaide and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
He was attached by a group of ‘Bold and Daring’ Aboriginal men at a creek on the property, which he later named ‘Attack Creek’. Stuart made two more attempts before he was able to pass in 1862.
In 1895 Banka Banka Station was established by Thomas Nugent, of the Ragged Thirteen, and has been an operating cattle station ever since.
The mudbrick homestead and remnants of the WWII staging camp are heritage listed can be visited at anytime.