The Nyimili project is an interdisciplinary landscape documentation project aimed at capturing the cultural values of a prominent range of hills on the southwestern margins of the Hamersley Range. The project was born from a desire to provide a structure for community led engagement in heritage and landscape management, bringing together a team of researchers and Yinhawangka community members in a shared learning experience to explore and document the range and the stories which make it so special. The range is of critical cultural significance to the local Yinhawangka people and there is evidence that the Nyimili range is specifically referenced in stories and songs across the Hamersley Range, north to the Pilbara coast and east into the Western Desert. The ethnographic significance of the range is enhanced by a rich and complex archaeological record. Archaeological features present within the range include, ochre paintings and man-made structures – which are comparatively rare in the wider region – and features of high potential for detailed archaeological investigation and excavation.

The central aims of the project are:

• Begin the systematic documentation of the archaeological features present within the Nyimili Range;
• Capture existing knowledge of the place within the contemporary beliefs of the Yinhawangka people;
• To further document evidence of Nyimili being referenced as a place of significance elsewhere in the region and beyond; and
• Produce educational and management tools, empowering the Yinhawangka community to care for this place into the future.

The project will also focus on the range’s role as an area of biological significance, and a habitat for rare flora and fauna. This website is one of the outcomes of the project and is a treasure trove of information and multimedia, telling the story of the range through filmmaking, interviews, cultural demonstrations and a series of immersive panoramas.

Acknowledgements and Thanks

A community venture as large as the Nyimili Project does not get off the ground without significant support and help. The following organisations and individuals played a vital role in the success of the Nyimili Project:

• Thank you to the board and staff of the Yinhawangka Aboriginal Corporation who provided invaluable support throughout the project;
• Thank you to the Yinhawangka Trust who provided the funding for the project;
• Thank you to the Yinhawangka people for their belief in the project and their ongoing support;
• Thank you to all of the Yinhawangka participants and their invited guests. Without their stories and expertise this project could never have gone ahead (David Cox, Adrian Condon, Claude Cox, Marlon Cooke, Clinton Cooke, Raymond Chadd, Justin Ranger, Roy Tommy, Nancy Tommy, Beverley Hubert, Mary Mills, Stuart Ingie Jnr, Eric Galby, Wade Lyndon, Louis Stream, Ivan Smirke, Angus Allen and Garret Condon);
• Thank you to Claire Leach for creating the wonderful video content found throughout the website and the interactive tours;
• Rio Tinto Iron Ore for assisting with the transport of equipment to and from Tom Price; and
• Terra Rosa Consulting who helped to develop and deliver the Nyimili Project and developed this website.