SPINIFLEX INDIANS IN AUSTRALIA

SPINAFLEX INDIANS OR THE PILA GURU ARE ABORIGINES IN THE GREAT VICTORIAN DESERT IN WEST AUSTRALIA. THEY ARE PRIMARILY HUNTER GATHERERS IN THEIR LAND. THEIR TITLE TO THEIR CLAIMS WAS RECOGNIZED IN 2000 BY A FEDERAL COURT DECISION.

IN 1997 AN ART PROJECT WAS STARTED IN 1991 IN WHICH TRADITIONAL PAINTINGS BECAME PART OF THE CLAIM. A MAJOR EXHIBIT IN LONDON IN 2005 BROUGHT THE ARTISTS WIDE ATTENTION. THEY MADE DOT PAINTINGS. SPINIFLEX COMES FROM A COMMUNITY WHICH IS PREVALENT IN THE DESERT. EUROPEANS CONSIDERED THIS AREA UNHOSPITABLE.

BY 1900 SETTLERS WERE GRANTED PASTORAL LEASES. BUT THE LAND WAS SO ARID THEY DID NOT ATTEMPT AGRICULTURE. BUT THE LAND WAS SO ARID THEY DID NOT ATTEMPT AGRICULTURE. BY THE 1950'S SO LITTLE WAS KNOWN ABOUT THESE PEOPLE THAT THE BRITISH DECIDED TO TEST NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

FROM 1952 TO 1955 A ROAD WAS BUILT FOR THE WEATHER STATION. THEY LEARNED THAT THE ABORIGINALS HAD ABOUT 150 PEOPLE WHO LIVED WEST OF THE SITE. AN OFFICIAL GAVE THEM A WARNING OF THEIR NUCLEAR TESTS. NINE HYDROGEN BOMBS WERE TESTED. MANY SPINIFLEX WERE NEVER INFORMED OF AND THEY LIVED ACROSS THIS ENORMOUS AREA FAR WEST OF THE TEST. NO ONE WALL ALLOWED WITH 200 KM OF GROUND ZERO EVEN THOUGH SOME SPINIFLEX WERE HUNTING OVER THE AREA CLOSE ENOUGH TO HEAR THE BOMBS EXPLODE, THEY WERE HEALTHY SEVERAL YEARS AFTER IT.

BY 1997 THEIR ART PROJECT BEGUN TO DOCUMENT THE NATIVE TITLE CLAIMS. BOTH NATIVE TITLE PAINTINGS AND THEIR DOCUMENTS SHOWED THEIR BIRTHPLACES AND EXPRESS THE IMPORTANT TRADITIONAL STORIES THAT CROSS AND GIVE SHAPE TO THEIR TERRITORIES THAT CROSS AND GIVE SHAPE TO THEIR LAND. THEIR TERRITORY ABOUT 55,000 KM SQUARED OF PARK RESERVE WITHOUT PASTORAL LEASES. IN 2004 21,000 KM SQUARED OF THIS LAND WAS GIVEN TO THEIR NEIGHBORS BY THE GOVERNMENT.

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