In 1984, the Pintupi Nine, the last nomadic Aboriginal family in Australia’s Gibson Desert, made first contact with the modern world after 20 years of isolation.
Key Takeaways
The group of nine, two sisters and seven teenage children, had been separated from other Pintupi since the 1950s when British Blue Streak Missile tests prompted Australian government relocation of desert nomads.
Kiwirrkurra community, where contact occurred, is Australia’s most remote settlement: a 700km, two-day drive from Alice Springs.
First contact was mediated by Pintupi relatives speaking the same language; a full day passed before the Nine encountered a white person.
Sugar was the decisive seduction: Warlimpirrnga, family head, chose to join the community after tasting it and being offered food and water.
The Nine had no concept of money, cars, clothes, or rope; they used aircraft rope to hang hunted goannas.
Hacker News Comment Review
One commenter references a Malcolm Douglas documentary in which a Pintupi member chose to return to desert nomadic life, with the group periodically searching for him and finding only abandoned watering holes and millstones.
