Wiltja in outback, circa 1940

Wiltjas are shelters made by the Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and other Aboriginal Australian peoples. They are temporary dwellings, and are abandoned and rebuilt rather than maintained. Open and semi-circular, wiltjas are meant primarily as a defence against the heat of the sun, and are not an effective shelter from rain.

See also

Photographs

  • - State Library of Victoria
  • - Alamy