Spinifex people facts for kids
The Pila Nguru are an Aboriginal Australian people from Western Australia. They are often called the Spinifex people in English. Their homeland stretches to the border with South Australia and north of the Nullarbor Plain. The heart of their land is in the Great Victoria Desert, at Tjuntjunjarra. This community is about 700 kilometers (435 miles) east of Kalgoorlie. It is one of the most isolated communities in Australia.
The Pila Nguru were one of the last Australian groups to live a fully traditional lifestyle. They still mostly follow their traditional hunter-gatherer way of life. In 2000, the Federal Court of Australia officially recognized their claims to their land, known as native title in Australia. In 1997, they started an art project where paintings helped show their land claims. In 2005, a big art show in London made their artists well-known.
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Language of the Spinifex People
The Spinifex people speak dialects of the Western Desert language. This language is part of the Wati language group. The name Pila Nguru comes from Anaṉgu tjuta pila nguru. This means "people from the land of the spinifex." It shows that their identity is strongly linked to their land, not just their language.
Life in the Desert: Ecology and Lifestyle
The Spinifex homeland is a very dry desert. Different types of trees grow there, like mulga, western myall, and casuarina. You can also find cassia, sandalwood, and many kinds of spinifex grasses. Spinifex grasses cover a large part of Australia's dry areas. There are about 35 different kinds in the desert.
One special type is "soft spinifex" (Triodia pungens). It is also called "bush araldite" in pidgin English. This plant is valued for its sticky, glue-like resin. In the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara languages, the plant is tjapura. The resin taken from it is called kiti.
Spinifex Resin: A Useful Material
The Spinifex people used the resin from spinifex grasses in many ways:
- Waterproofing: They used it to seal wooden objects that carried water.
- Filling holes: It could fill cracks or holes in materials.
- Glue: It was a strong glue for making tools, weapons, and special ceremonial items.
- Molding: They shaped it into beads, figures, and other small objects.
These resin products were also important for trading and as gifts between different groups.
To get the resin, they cut the grass stems. Then, they beat the gathered grass with a stick to get spinifex dust. This dust was cleaned by shaking it in a special wooden dish called a luandja. The cleaned dust was then heated over stones. From about 8 cubic meters of grass, they could get around 600 grams of resin.
The resin was key for attaching stone blades to tools called adzes. These adzes were used for woodworking, like hollowing out dishes or shaping boomerangs and spears.
The only traditional shelter they built was a wiltja, which is a simple windbreak.
History of the Spinifex People
In 2001, when judging the Pila Nguru land claim, the Federal Court of Australia's Chief Justice, Michael Black, noted that archaeological findings showed people had lived in the Western Desert for about 20,000 years. Many people moved into Australia's dry areas during a warm period about 9,000 to 6,000 years ago. Scott Cane, a researcher, says that many old tools and items are found across the desert. This shows people lived there for a very long time.
First Contact with White Settlers: 1900–1952
White people started coming into Pila Nguru lands around the 1910s. They tried to set up cattle farms, but these plans did not work out. By the 1930s, Christian missionaries came to the area, helped by the nearby Trans-Australian Railway. They set up a mission in Warburton. However, the harsh desert made it hard for them to stay, and the Pila Nguru kept many of their traditional ways of life.
During droughts from the 1920s to 1942, some Anangu people went to government food depots. These depots were near the railway, at places like Karonie and Cundeelee. Food was given out monthly.
By the 1950s, very little was known about the Spinifex people. Because of this, the British government chose the Nullarbor area for nuclear weapons testing. They thought no one lived there.
Atomic Testing: 1953–1957
In the early 1950s, roads were built for a weather station. Officials then learned that Aboriginal people, about 150 of them, lived west of the test sites. An expert bushman named Walter MacDougall was sent to warn them about the upcoming tests.
Nine small nuclear bombs were tested. Two tests happened at Emu Junction in 1953. Seven more tests happened at Maralinga in 1956–1957. The bombs ranged up to 25 kilotons in power.
Only one officer and an assistant were sent to warn the Spinifex people, who lived across a huge area. Many Spinifex people were never told about the tests and stayed in the area. The government dropped leaflets from planes, but the Spinifex people could not read them. They were also scared of the aircraft.
Later, MacDougall found that up to 40 Spinifex people might have been hunting in the forbidden Maralinga area during the tests. One family of twelve lived less than 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Maralinga. They were close enough to hear the big bombs explode. Several years after the tests, they seemed healthy.
A special Australian investigation could not figure out if the Spinifex people were harmed by radiation from the bomb tests. This was because there were no medical records or health centers in the area. Maps of the bomb clouds show that winds usually blew north during the tests. Spinifex lands are about 300 kilometers (186 miles) west of Maralinga. The closest group was at Nurrari Lakes, about 180 kilometers (112 miles) west.
Native Title: Claiming Their Land
In 1997, the Spinifex Arts Project started. It helped gather information for their native title claims. Both men's and women's groups created large paintings. These artworks showed the entire Spinifex area, including where people were born. They also told important traditional stories linked to the land. These paintings were used as evidence in court.
In 2000, the Spinifex people were the second group in Western Australia to have their land rights officially recognized. This happened through an agreement under the Commonwealth Native Title Act 1993. The Federal Court of Australia approved an agreement between the Spinifex people, the State Government, and the Shire of Laverton. This agreement covered about 55,000 square kilometers (21,236 square miles) of land.
This land was mostly unallocated or park reserve. It had no cattle leases. It is north of the Nullarbor peoples' lands, east of the Pilki area, and south of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. The eastern border is the South Australian border. Only two nature reserves and a public road crossed the land.
Twenty-one families of the Spinifex people made the native title claim. Some Spinifex people started returning to their land around 1980. Since 2001, many who had left to live at Christian missions have returned to their homelands. In 2004, the government gave joint control of a large, untouched wilderness area (21,000 square kilometers or 8,108 square miles) to the Pila Nguru and the Maralinga Tjarutja people. This area is now called Mamungari Conservation Park.
Spinifex Art
Spinifex art began as a way to show their experiences with the outside world. The Pila Nguru call some of their artworks "government paintings." These were visual documents made to prove their land title in court.
In early 2005, the Spinifex people became famous for their art. A big exhibition of their work was held in London. Their bright "dot paintings" are not just made for tourists. They are real artworks that the Spinifex people create for their own important purposes.
Stage Productions
A play called The Career Highlights of the Mamu tells the story of the Spinifex people during the atomic tests. It was co-written by Big hART's creative director Scott Rankin and Trevor Jamieson. Roy Underwood and other Spinifex people performed it in Hamburg, Germany, in 2002.
Ngapartji Ngapartji was another project that included a stage play. It aimed to help keep their language and community strong. Scott Rankin and Trevor Jamieson developed it from 2008 onwards. In this play, Jamieson shares his family's story.
See also
