Wiltja



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.

Photographs

 * Aboriginal people outside a wiltja shelter made of bark and branches c.1914 - State Library of Victoria
 * Aboriginal bough shelter known as a “wiltja”, at Desert Tracks Pitjantjatjara Tours camp - Alamy