| Aputula (Finke) Northern Territory |
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Aputula (Finke)
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| Population: | 250 (estimate) | ||||||
| Postcode: | 0872 | ||||||
| Location: | 159 km (99 mi) east of Stuart Highway | ||||||
| LGA: | Central Land Council | ||||||
| State District: | MacDonnell | ||||||
| Federal Division: | Lingiari | ||||||
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Aputula () is a remote Indigenous Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is south of Alice Springs, 159 km (99 mi) east of the Stuart Highway, near the South Australia and Northern Territory border.
The community is also known as Finke, which was the name Europeans gave to the railway siding from which the township eventually grew. Most of the Europeans left the town when the Central Australian Railway line was shifted westwards.
It was after this that the town came to be known as Aputula. The name comes from a place called 'Putula' near the community, which used to be the site of a water soakage. Putula is an Arrernte word. Arrernte people used to get their water there, before the white people and the railway line came to the area.
Aputula holds the record of having the hottest day ever recorded in the Northern Territory—48.3 °C (118.9 °F) on 1 and 2 January 1960.[1]
The population of the town is 250 people. They are Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Luritja, and Lower Southern Arrernte people.