Pintupi
Pintupi are an Aboriginal tribe from the Western Desert in Australia , whose home is in the area west of Lake MacDonald and Lake Mackay in Western Australia . This tribe, who have inhabited this area as nomads for millennia , settled in Papunya , Hermannsburg and Haasts Bluff in the west of the Northern Territory in the 1940s to 1980s .
Development from the 1950s
Over the past few decades, many Pintupi have moved back to their traditional lands as part of the Outstation Movement , establishing the Kintore ( Wa l ungurru in the Pintupi language) community in the Northern Territory and Kiwirrkura and Jupiter Well (in Pintupi language: Puntutjarrpa ) in Westerns Australia.
Since they inhabited a very inaccessible part of Australia, the Pintupi were among the last to give up their traditional way of life. They did not give up their way of life voluntarily, but because parts of their living space became nuclear contaminated because of the blue streak missile tests, in which the British and Australian military carried out nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s and 1960s: Because of these tests, the residents in the the eastern foothills of the desert in Haasts Bluff, Hermannsburg and Papunya.
In the 1960s, the Pintupi, who still lived traditionally, were forcibly relocated to areas near Alice Springs under the government of Robert Menzies . The government stated that they were not yet ready for modern society and that they needed more time to assimilate into white society. This policy went hand in hand with the forcible removal of thousands of Aboriginal children from their parents, who were then raised as stolen generations in government and church homes.
In Papunya, the Pintupi mixed with Warlpiri , Arrernte , Anmatyerre and Luritja , but were the largest group there. The conditions under which the Pintupi had to live there resulted in 129 people, almost a sixth of the population, dying from treatable diseases such as hepatitis , meningitis and encephalitis between 1962 and 1966 .
The last Pintupi, known as the "Lost Tribe" or Pintupi Nine , ended their traditional way of life as isolated nomads of the desert in 1984.
Kinship system of the Pintupi
Together with their neighbors like the Warlpiri, the Pintupi have a complex kinship system with eight different skin groups , which is made more difficult by different prefixes for female and male skin names : "Tj" for male, "N" for female:
| gender | Skin name | can marry | Become children |
|---|---|---|---|
| male | Tjapaltjarri | Nakamarra | Tjungurrayi, Nungurrayi |
| Female | Napaltjarri | Tjakamarra | Tjupurrula, Napurrula |
| male | Tjapangati | Nampitjinpa | Tjapanangka, Napanangka |
| Female | Napangati | Tjampitjinpa | Tjangala, Nangala |
| male | Tjakamarra | Napaltjarri | Tjupurrula, Napurrula |
| Female | Nakamarra | Tjapaltjarri | Tjungurrayi, Nungurrayi |
| male | Tjampitjinpa | Napangati | Tjangala, Nangala |
| Female | Nampitjinpa | Tjapangati | Tjapanangka, Napangangka |
| male | Tjapanangka | Napurrula | Tjapangati, Napangati |
| Female | Napanangka | Tjupurrula | Tjakamarra, Nakamarra |
| male | Tjungurrayi | Nangala | Tjapaltjarri, Napaltjarri |
| Female | Nungurrayi | Tjangala | Tjampitjinpa, Nampitjinpa |
| male | Tjupurrula | Napanangka | Tjakamarra, Nakamarra |
| Female | Napurrula | Tjapanangka | Tjapangati, Napangati |
| male | Tjangala | Nungurrayi | Tjampitjinpa, Nampitjinpa |
| Female | Nangala | Tjungarayyi | Tjapaltjarri, Napaltjarri |
Prominent pintupi
Some of the most famous Aboriginal artists are Pintupi and have been associated with the Western Desert Art Movement that originated in the 1970s with the influence of art teacher Geoffrey Bardon : among them are Anatjari Tjakamarra , Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri , Walala Tjapaltjarri, and Timmy Payungka Tjapangati .