'The People of the Sun and Shadow are the Spinifex people. The duality reflects their association with land, defines their kinship and is the backbone of their religion. That association with land, law and people continued, cocooned within the spinifex plains of the Western Desert, for hundreds of generations until the Spinifex People were shaken from their nomadic solitude by the atomic shock of Maralinga. It was 1952 and the Spinifex people were about to meet white Australia.'
The Spinifex People do not identify themselves with a particular or specific tribal name, they identify themselves directly with country, people who live in and own the spinifex plains of the Great Victoria Desert between the Nullabor Plain and the foothills of the Warburton ranges. They call themselves, the Anangu tjuta pila nguru - meaning the Aboriginal people (Anangu) many (tjuta), Spinifex (pila) from nguru.
Since the successful titles claim to their heritage Spinifex people have moved back on to their land. On successive field trips to specific locations they have continued to record their sacred places in paintings. That are aesthetically different than any others amongst Australian desert artists. (Pila Nguru: The Spinifex People; National Library of Australia; Co ee website www.cooeeart.com.au)
'On 28 November 2000 the Federal Court sat for a few minutes under a temporary shade outside the Tjuntjuntjara community in remote southeastern Western Australia. I was among the few visitors there, fortunate to witness the first determination of native title in Western Australia; one recognising exclusive possession by the Spinifex People of 55 000 square kilometres of their country against the South Australia border and on the north of the Nullarbor Plain. Displayed behind the Judge were two striking large paintings, the main ones from an exhibition that toured nationally in 2000 and 2001 as the Spinifex Arts Project (Anon. n.d.), reproduced in full colour in this volume.' (Introduction)
'On 28 November 2000 the Federal Court sat for a few minutes under a temporary shade outside the Tjuntjuntjara community in remote southeastern Western Australia. I was among the few visitors there, fortunate to witness the first determination of native title in Western Australia; one recognising exclusive possession by the Spinifex People of 55 000 square kilometres of their country against the South Australia border and on the north of the Nullarbor Plain. Displayed behind the Judge were two striking large paintings, the main ones from an exhibition that toured nationally in 2000 and 2001 as the Spinifex Arts Project (Anon. n.d.), reproduced in full colour in this volume.' (Introduction)
