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About 150 years ago, history started to change. By 1850 Europeans had come to Australia from across the sea and were living down South on stations or in cities.
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Papunya community starts to change
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When the Tjulkura came to Australia, they did not recognise that, between them, different groups of Aboriginal people owned all the continent because there were no pieces of paper saying which people don't belong to which country.
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By the 1880s, groups of white men were camped on the banks of Todd river. The government decided to establish a town, to replace the camps. This town was names Stuart after the first white explorer.
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Another sort of Tjulkura came from Germany. These ones were Lutheran missionaries, and they wanted to teach the Christian Religion to the Anagu.
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Pastor Strehlow came to Hermannsburg. 200 people were baptised. The new religion did not replace traditional life but could fit in with it.
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A school opened in a timber and iron building next to the Stuart police station. Nearby was a tin shed called the Bungalow
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After the First World War ended, things seemed to move more quickly in the little town on the Todd. In 1921, townsfolk were excited to see the first aeroplane land.
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When the first white explores came, they traveled by camel or horse. As time went on, there was a new sort of explorer who travelled through the sky.
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In 1932, another change took place, when the Post Office Springs Telegraph Station to the settlement at Stuart. The Locals normally called Alice Springs called 'Alice'.
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The school started at Pupanya. in those days, children had to have a shower and change into uniforms when they came to school. At this time children were not allowed to speak their own language at school.
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Pupunya school occasionally made bush trips to Ulumparru, twenty kilometres south of it. People grew vegetables and animals out there.
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In 1980, a big community meeting voted that Pupanya should be dry. In this decade a lot of new buildings and houses were built.
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During the 1980s, art galleries all over the world began to buy and exhibit Pupanya paintings.
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Pupanya has always loved music and songs. During the 20th centery they also started playing contemporary. In 1981, a band in Pupanyagot together and performed they then went on to tour.
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In the 1990s, Pupanya hit the newspaper headlines again, as the community took action to control their own lives. When Pupanya was first used as a school, the electricity was free, but later they had to pay bills. Pupanya people wanted to pay different ways but the government said no.
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The community was not happy with the teaching at the school, so parents kept their children at home. The school had to close, after this the school got a new principle and the school started up again.
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When the white people first came to Australia, aboriginals fought for their land back. A man called Eddie Mabo went to court to fight for his rights.
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In the late 1900s, Pupanya school got stronger and the teachers followed the curiculum.