View of Mount Serle, Northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

Mount Serle (Arta-Wararlpanha or Artoowarapana) features prominently in the history and culture of the Adnyamathanha people, being one of their main pre-contact campsites. After European settlement many Adnyamathanha continued to camp in the area and there was sometimes conflict over resources. This led to the opening of a police station in the 1850s.

By the late 1890s there was a steady population living at Mount Serle station when it was abandoned by pastoralists and transformed into a camel depot by the Government. The caretaker of the depot, Mr Strothers, did not get along with the Aboriginal population and asked for the ration depot to be closed. The Protector of Aborigines refused, saying that the Adnyamathanha were attached to their land, and could not just be removed.

In 1906 the Station was leased again, and in the early 1920s the Adnyamathanha were removed and told to camp elsewhere. Whilst some continued to find employment on the Station, they could no longer make Mount Serle their home. It was then that a group of over 100 Adnyamathanha set up a semi-permanent camp at Ram Paddock Gate, where they remained until the move to Nepabunna in 1931.

As well as the birthplace, campsite and employer of many Adnyamathanha people, Mount Serle is a place of spiritual significance, being part of many dreaming trails.

When Mountford returned from his second visit to Nepabunna in early 1938 he published a series of articles in The News retelling the legends he had heard from various members of the community. He used drawings provided by Rufus Wilton, Fred McKenzie, Chris Ryan and Alex Ryan, among others, to illustrate them. Much of what he recorded in his journals on this topic was used to put together the book FlindersRangesdreaming.

Brock, Peggy. Yura and Udnyu : a history of the Adnyamathanha of the North Flinders Ranges. Adelaide: Wakefield Press in association with the Aboriginal Heritage Branch, Dept. of Environment and Planning, South Australia, 1985.

The Flinders Ranges : an Aboriginal view. 2nd ed. compiled by Christine Davis, Clifford Coulthard and Desmond Coulthard. Adelaide: Aboriginal Heritage Branch, Dept. of Environment and Planning, 1986.

Lamshed, Max. 'Monty': the biography of C.P. Mountford. Adelaide: Rigby, 1972. Ch. 10.

Ross, Betty. Minerawuta : Ram Paddock Gate : an historic Adnyamathanha settlement in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. 2nd ed. Adelaide: Aboriginal Heritage Branch, Dept. of Environment and Planning, 1989.

Survival in our own land : 'Aboriginal' experiences in 'South Australia' since 1836. told by Nungas and others ; edited and researched by Christobel Mattingley, co-edited by Ken Hampton. Adelaide: ALDAA in association with Hodder & Stoughton, 1988.

Tunbridge, Dorothy. Flinders Ranges dreaming. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1988.

Iga Warta - Accommodation and Cultural education on Adnyamathanha land

Mount Serle - Flinders Ranges research

Nepabunna tourism