The Pintupi are an

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

group who are part of the Western Desert cultural group and whose traditional land is in the area west of Lake Macdonald and

Lake Mackay Lake Mackay, known as Wilkinkarra to the Indigenous Pintupi people, is the largest of hundreds of ephemeral salt lakes scattered throughout the Pilbara and northern parts of the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia and the Northe ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. These people moved (or were moved) into the Aboriginal communities of Papunya and Haasts Bluff in the west of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

in the 1940s–1980s. The last Pintupi to leave their traditional lifestyle in the desert, in 1984, are a group known as the Pintupi Nine, also sometimes called the "lost tribe". Over recent decades groups of Pintupi have moved back to their traditional country, as part of what has come to be called the

outstation movement An outstation, homeland or homeland community is a very small, often remote, permanent community of Aboriginal Australian people connected by Aboriginal kinship, kinship, on land that often, but not always, has social, cultural or economic signi ...

. These groups set up the communities of Kintore (''Walungurru'' in Pintupi) in the

, Kiwirrkura and Jupiter Well (in Pintupi: ''Puntutjarrpa'') in

. There was also a recent dramatic increase in Pintupi populations and speakers of the Pintupi language.

Country

Pintupi lands, in Tindale's estimation, spread over roughly , embracing the areas of

, Lake Macdonald, Mount Russell, the Ehrenberg and Kintore ranges and Warman Rocks. Their western extension ran to near Winbaruku, while their southern frontier was in the vicinity of Johnstone Hill.

History

Inhabiting a very remote part of Australia, the Pintupi were among the last Aboriginal Australians to leave their traditional lifestyle. For many, this occurred as a result of the Blue Streak missile tests which began in the 1960s. As these missiles would have a trajectory landing in the desert areas known to still be inhabited, government officials decided that these people should be relocated. A number of trips were made to the area and Aboriginal people were located and moved (or encouraged to move) into one of the settlements on the eastern fringe of the desert, such as Haasts Bluff, Hermannsburg and Papunya. As a result of different people leaving the desert at different times and in different directions, Pintupi have wound up living at a variety of communities around the edge of the desert, including Warburton, Kaltukatjara (formerly known as Docker River), Balgo and

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...

, but the majority reside at the major Pintupi communities of Kintore, Kiwirrkura and Papunya. In the 1960s, the Menzies Liberal government forced the removal of traditional-living Pintupi to settlements east of their country, closer to

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

. The government argued that they were not ready to live in modern society and needed to be re-educated before assimilation into white society. In practice, this meant relocation from their traditional lands and suppression of their

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

, art and culture. This policy also involved the forced removal of thousands of Aboriginal children from their parents and their dispersal into government or religious institutions or foster care (see Stolen Generation). At Papunya, a government settlement, Pintupi mixed with Warlpiri, Arrernte,

Anmatyerre The Anmatyerr (also spelt Anmatyerre, Anmatjera, Anmatjirra, Amatjere and other variations) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, who speak one of the Upper Arrernte languages. Language Anmatyerr is divided into Eas ...

and

Luritja The Luritja or Loritja people, also known as Kukatja or Kukatja-Luritja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their traditional lands are immediately west of the Derwent River, that forms a frontier with the Arrernte p ...

language groups, but formed the largest language group. Conditions were so bad that 129 people, or almost one-sixth of the residents, died of treatable diseases such as

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

and

encephalitis Encephalitis is inflammation of the Human brain, brain. The severity can be variable with symptoms including reduction or alteration in consciousness, aphasia, headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting. Complications may include se ...

between 1962 and 1966.

Pintupi kinship

In common with neighbouring groups, such as the Warlpiri, the Pintupi have a complex kinship system, with eight different kin groups, made more so by distinct prefixes for male and female skin names, "Tj" for males and "N" for females. The Pintupi refer to places and their attached dreaming stories by the skin names of their owners or ancestral heroes which passed through the area. This is done to both record the stories of Dreamtime figures and keep record of the complex Pintupi kinship structure.

Prominent Pintupi

* Anatjari Tjakamarra * Kaapa Tjampitjinpa * Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri * Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri * Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri * Timmy Payungka Tjapangati * Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula * Eileen Napaltjarri * Tjunkiya Napaltjarri * Wintjiya Napaltjarri * Makinti Napanangka * Naata Nungurrayi * Ningura Napurrula

Notes

Citations

Sources

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External links

native patrol report

National Museum of Australia journal

{{authority control Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory