Alpurrurulam, Northern Territory

The waterhole known as Lake Nash to European settlers was used by Aboriginal peoples for millennia, and was called Ilperrelhelame in the Alyawarre language. It has many Dreaming legends attached to it, and the local Alyawarre people lived in a traditional way, hunting and foraging and performing their ceremonies until 1920. was the local government authority until 1 July 2008, when there was an amalgamation of councils into a new shire framework and the town was absorbed into the Barkly Shire. ==Governance and population==

Alpurrurulam is located within the federal division of Lingiari, the territory electoral division of Barkly and the local government area of the Barkly Region, The town is usually called Alpurrurulam or Lake Nash. The town is mostly referred to as Lake Nash colloquially, and for mail delivery (via Mount Isa), and Alpurrurulam for all official matters, such as a census. The 2021 Australian census which was conducted in August 2021 reports that Alpurrurulam had a population of 350 people of whom 335 (95.7%) identified as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. ==Facilities==

Services include the Barkly Regional Council Alpurrurulam Service Centre, aged care facilities, night patrol, sport and recreation, Centrelink, a post office, the Warte Alparayetye community-owned store, Alpurrurulam Community School (to Year 9), and the Rainbow Gateway, a new community development program. and a women's team known as the Giants. There is an airstrip, with planes departing for Mt Isa for health appointments once a week, and a special mail plane on Fridays. A wind farm and a solar farm with hybrid solar-diesel power system, were installed in 2011–2012. ==Notable people==

• Elkin Reilly, Australian rules footballer (first Northern Territorian in the AFL) ==References==