Our Projects and Future Development
Community-led opportunities, grounded in Country and Culture.
Tourism on Country
Kimberley Dreamtime Eco Retreat
Jarlmadangah Burru Aboriginal Corporation is developing the Kimberley Dreamtime Eco Retreat at the base of the escarpment, a few kilometres from the community on Nyikina Mangala Country. The project picks up work the corporation began several years ago, which was paused during COVID-19.
Plans include six renewed accommodation platforms with new tents and ensuites, a camp kitchen, a social gathering space and an ablution block, all connected to water, power and wastewater services, together with landscaping and signage.
The support buildings, designed by Troppo Architects, will be built with compressed earth blocks made by community members from local earth, with support from Emama Nguda Aboriginal Corporation. A community earth-brick demonstration was held in November 2025. Building with local earth helps the retreat sit gently on Country.
Once complete, the retreat is expected to create local jobs in tourism, hospitality and catering, grow cultural tourism and bring more business to the community store.
Building for the future
Community Infrastructure
Development at Jarlmadangah Burru is guided by a Community Layout Plan prepared with the community and endorsed by the Western Australian Planning Commission. First prepared in 2000, the plan has since been reviewed and amended several times, most recently in 2018.
The plan shows where homes, services and businesses can be built. It protects the community’s main drinking water bore with a 300-metre buffer, and sets aside sites away from homes for a future power station, wastewater ponds and a relocated rubbish tip.
Ongoing works keep the community’s roads, drainage and grounds in good order, with local trainees gaining hands-on experience operating machinery.
Active community
Sport and Recreation Improvements
The community’s football oval, basketball court and amphitheatre are set aside as open space for recreation in the Community Layout Plan, with a further park planned in the southern part of the community.
A separate non-drinking water bore irrigates the oval and garden areas, helping to keep these spaces green and usable.
These spaces host community games, school activities and family events. Continued improvements help keep them safe, comfortable and welcoming for people of all ages.
Homes for families
Housing and Development
Jarlmadangah Burru has grown steadily since it was established in 1987. Seven houses in the late 1990s had grown to seventeen houses and aged persons’ accommodation by 2007, alongside a school, health clinic, office, store and youth centre.
The Community Layout Plan provides more than 30 serviced house lots for future homes, allowing the community to grow to around 250 residents while keeping homes well separated from utilities and enterprise areas.
New housing and upgrades are planned in line with the corporation’s strategic plan, so that families can continue to live on Country close to Culture, school and community services.
Local opportunities
Employment and Economic Opportunities
The community owns Mount Anderson Station and operates Kimberley Dreamtime Adventures, which offers guided tours, tailored experiences and camping on Country.
Women from the community make bush medicine products from plants gathered on Country, including Birral Birral healing ointment and Libirrara chest rub.
Training builds local skills for local work. In 2026 community members completed skid steer training, gaining hands-on experience through earthworks around the community.
Future opportunities identified by the community include the eco retreat and an aquaculture enterprise to grow fish and cherabun near the community dam.
Our community. Our Country. Our future.
Connect with Jarlmadangah Burru
For community enquiries and information about our projects, please get in touch.