Arrernte language in the context of Alice Springs

Arltunga Historical Reserve, known also as Arnerre-ntyenge is a deserted gold rush town located in the Northern Territory of Australia in the locality of Hart about 110 kilometres (68 mi) east of Alice Springs. It is on the lands of the Eastern Arrernte people, who are the traditional owners.

The name Arltunga comes from the Eastern Arrernte name for the nearby waterhole Arnerre-ntyenge (a-na-ra n-tunga-a) which translates roughly as 'stinking water' as animals were known to get stuck in there and die. Alternatively there is speculation that the name comes from a corruption of the Kukatja dialect (Luritja language) word aldolanga which means 'easterners'. The European name for this waterhole is Paddy's Rockhole.

In Aboriginal mythology (specifically: Arrernte), the Inapertwa are the simple, ancestral creatures with which the Numakulla modelled all life (plant, animals, birds) on Earth. From these they formed human beings. The "totems" of the Arrernte are named after individual Inapertwa formed into animals, then into humans.

The Finke River, or Larapinta in the Indigenous Arrernte language, is a river in central Australia, the bed of which courses through the Northern Territory and the state of South Australia. It is one of the four main rivers of Lake Eyre Basin and is thought to be the oldest riverbed in the world. It flows for only a few days a year. When that happens, its water usually disappears into the sands of the Simpson Desert and rarely, if ever, reaches Lake Eyre.