Warburton

Warburton or Warburton Ranges is an Indigenous Australian community in Western Australia, just to the south of the Gibson Desert and located on the Great Central Road (part of the Outback Way) and Gunbarrel Highway. At the, Warburton had a population of 474.HistoryAustralian Broadcasting Corporation research indicated that:The Aboriginal people of the western desert were nomadic people, moving around in search of food and water. This changed with the arrival of missionaries and the beginning of 'settlement' at Warburton in 1933.By 1954, between 500 and 700 Aboriginal people were living at Warburton. Children stayed in the children's home and were sent to school where they were taught in English, a policy that contributed to the breakdown of traditional culture. Women and girls were trained in sewing, kitchen skills and cooking, and men made money by collecting dingo scalps or working as shearers or builders for the mission. A nearby copper mine drew even more people to the settlement and by the 1970s the last of the nomadic people had come in from the bush.The settlement has been an Aboriginal mission since 1934, when Will Wade, his wife and his children established the mission under the auspices of the UAM (United Aborigines Mission). It is named after explorer Peter Warburton, the first European to cross the Great Sandy Desert.