On first seeing Toll, a white man, Warlimpirrnga remembers, "I couldn't believe it. I thought he was a devil, a bad spirit. He was the colour of clouds at sunrise." Yalti thought the white man was a spirit sent to punish her for something she had done wrong. The family were very scared. They tried to run and hide from the trackers. Warlimpirrnga tried to attack them, but Freddy West was able to calm him by showing him how they were related. The trackers gave the family jam from a tin and pieces of chocolate to eat. They convinced the family to come with them to Kiwirrkurra. They told them that there was lots of food and that water came out of pipes. Yalti said that this concept was unbelievable to them.
When they got to Kiwirrkurra, the family saw their relatives again for the first time in over 20 years. They were angry at them for leaving them behind and not coming to find them. When they saw Topsy, her brother and sister were so angry that they hit her. After a few days, Takariya was married off to Freddy West. It was a gesture between the two groups.
The meaning of the event was understood in many different ways. Agencies serving Aboriginals thought the group's discovery would help them in the debate about indigenous land rights. Fred Myers, an anthropologist who was invited to Kiwirrkurra to study the new group, argues that the event became a part of the Pintupi's struggle to get back their autonomy, which they had lost when they first came out of the desert to settle at Papunya. He argues that their main goal was to maintain the new people's ability to govern their own lives.
Before news of the group's discovery spread, the leaders of Kiwirrkurra worked to protect the privacy of the family members. They also wanted to protect them from the same kind of shame or teasing they had experienced themselves coming out of the desert many years before.
One of the first people to be told about the event was the Aboriginal Affairs minister, Clyde Holding. His department wanted to use the group's story in the campaign for Aboriginal land rights. Holding gave the story to "The Herald", a newspaper from Melbourne. In exchange, the newspaper agreed not to tell anyone where the group was. The story was first reported on the newspaper's front page on 24 October, with the headline claiming it had "found the lost tribe". The news caused a sensation, and instantly made headlines across the country. They became popularly known as the "Pintupi Nine" or the "Last Nomads". The family themselves, however, would not tell their own story until much later in life.
This publicity became a problem for Holding. The leaders at Kiwirrkurra were angry with him for giving the story to the press. The newspaper had published photographs of the family members without their permission. It had caused other reporters to try to enter their community to get information. They also did not agree with how the media was defining the event. The little information the press had been given had led to romanticised reports of a "first contact" or a "discovery". But from the Pintupi point of view, the family were relatives whom they knew and had a history with. As they saw it, the group had not been "discovered", but were just coming back together after being separated.
When they had first arrived, a doctor from Kintore had examined the family and decided they were strong, fit, and very healthly. But in a few days time, they all got sick. They did not have any natural immunity to diseases. Holding wanted a government team of medical specialists to treat them. But Kiwirrkurra's leaders would not let any other doctors look at the family. The only people who were allowed to treat them were the local "ngangkari" (medicine man) and the doctor at Kintore.
At this time, the Pintupi still blamed government doctors for the deaths of many of their people who had come in from the desert during the 1960s. These people had died from infection and disease, and Holding was trying to avoid this happening again. By early November, serious concerns about the survival of the family were being raised. The secretary of the department of Aboriginal Affairs, Charles Perkins, strongly criticised the Kiwirrkurra leaders for violating the family's civil rights. He said that if they did not get the proper medical care, all nine of them would die within two months.
The doctor at Kintore thought that it was the Pintupi's responsibility to decide what was best for their own. They trusted him, and let him treat the family. All nine of the family members had caught coughs and a bacterial infection called treponema. The doctor treated them and gave them several immunisations. They eventually became healthy again.
The eldest brother, Piyiti, returned to the desert in 1986. He left in secret and covered his tracks so nobody could follow him. It is not clear why he left, or whether anyone knows why. One local claimed it was because he had heard stories about Pintupi people dying from diseases, and was afraid it would happen to him. McMahon thinks it was because he found it hard to adapt (adjust) to things—particularly conflict, since he had lived all his life with his family. There are different theories about what happened to Piyiti. Some people think he is still living in the desert. Warlimpirrnga, in an interview in 2004, claimed to have seen Piyiti in Alice Springs, and said he now calls himself "Yari Yari".
The others stayed at Kiwirrkura for many years. In 1998, Papalya died from kidney failure. She was probably almost 70 when she died, and was buried in Kiwirrkura. Nanu died in March 2001, also close to 70 years old. Because of a major flood at Kiwirrkura at the time, she was buried in Kintore.
The six remaining members became painters of the Papunya Tula school. The three brothers—Warlimpirrnga, Tamayinya (now known as Thomas) and Walala—now live mostly in Alice Springs. Their paintings have often sold for several thousands of dollars. Warlimpirrnga, particularly, is one of the most well-known artists of the Western Desert style. He has paintings in several national art galleries across the country. He and Yalti have three children. Except for Thomas, they are all married with children. Takariya separated from Freddy West and remarried. Yalti, Yukultji and Takariya still live in Kiwirrkurra. All six of them still speak only Pintupi.
The family became the last group of people living a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle in Australia. They were the last Aboriginal people to make contact with modern civilisation.
Walala Tjapaltjarri
Walala Tjapaltjarri (born Walala Tjapangati) is an Australian Aboriginal artist. He is one of the most well-known artists of the Western Desert style.
Walala was born in the late 1960s or early 1970s. He was born at Marua, near Lake Mackay. He grew up living a nomadic, traditional way of life in the desert. His family had never come into contact with modern, Euro-Australian society. He had never seen a white person, and his family always thought the aeroplanes they saw flying overhead were ghosts or spirits. Before Walala was born, his father Lanti had lived for a short time at the mission in Balgo. But he had run away after getting into trouble for stealing food. It was his decision to stay in the desert, and kept his family far away from the towns. Walala's mother was named Watjunka, and he was Watjunka's only child. He also had two other mothers, Papunya and Nanu, who were his father's secondary wives (and his mother's sisters). His father and Watjunka both died when he was young. The family finally came into contact with outsiders in October 1984, and were settled at Kiwirrkurra. He and his family became known as the last Aborigines living a traditional nomadic way of life in Australia.
He is now married with two children, and lives between Kiwirrkura, Alice Springs, and Yuendumu, where his wife is from. He paints at Hoppy's Camp, outside Alice Springs.