Docker River

Docker River owes its name to an Ernest Giles expedition in 1872. The original Aboriginal name for the place 670km west south west of Alice Springs, near the West Australian border was Kaltukatjara and it is still used locally today.

Following the relocation of Pitjantjatjara people from the region to Areyonga in the 1920s, some returned to their traditional homelands in the late 1960s and along with others from the community of Warburton, established the community of Docker River.

Today the community of Docker River has a population of approximately 300 residents living in the western end of the Iyarrka Ward of the MacDonnell Regional Council.

The MacDonnell Regional Council provides municipal services to Docker River including cemetery maintenance, parks and open spaces maintenance, sports grounds, rubbish collection, tip maintenance as well as maintenance of internal roads.

On behalf of Government agencies, MacDonnell Council also provides Centrelink services, a postal agency, inspection and maintenance of the airstrip, daily maintenance of power, water and sewerage services, children’s, home care and night patrol services.