Martu (Indigenous Australian)

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Martu are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Western Desert. Their lands include the Percival Lakes and Pilbara regions in Western Australia. They traditionally occupied a large tract of land; their neighbours to the east are the Pintupi.

Martu language groups include Manyjilyjarra; Kartujarra; Kiyajarra; Putijarra; Nyiyaparli; Warnman; Ngulipartu; Pitjikala; Kurajarra; Jiwaliny; Mangala; and Nangajarra. Martu means 'one of us', or 'person'. The language is also called Martu Wangka, a Western Desert Language.

The group identifier has only been used by non-Aborigines since the 1980s. Not long before this, it was believed that Pintupi people occupied this remote part of Australia. Today, Martu live at Jigalong, Punmu, Parnngurr and Kunawarrintji.

In 1964, a small clan of Martu, comprised only of women and children, was "brought in" from their country to a mission at Jigalong to make way for the Blue Streak missile tests. The missiles, fired from Woomera, South Australia, were designed to dump in traditional Martu country. Successive Western Desert Aborigines had "come in", or were "brought in" to overcrowded settlements, such as Papunya. A strong debate raged over this "detribalisation" of traditional-living Aborigines. State and Federal Governments had turned a blind eye to them up until then, leaving their fate to missionaries and cattle graziers. Kim Beazley sen, MHR, summed up the opinion of some at the time, saying in the House of Representatives, "it looks like the old problem of dispossession because we want something".

At this time, in the 1960s, some Martu had not seen white people, although knew of them from their ancestors, some of whom had encountered them at the creation of the Canning Stock Route in 1906-7. The experience had been a brutal one for many Martu, who had been forced to serve as 'guides' and reveal water sources, after having been 'run down' by men on horseback, restrained by heavy chains, and tied to trees at night. A Royal Commission in 1908 exonerated Canning, after an appearance by Kimberley explorer and Lord Mayor of Perth, Alexander Forrest claimed that all explorers had acted in such a fashion. ^[1]

The Rabbit-proof fence also runs through Martu country. The film of the same name, based on the novel by Doris Pilkington Garimara, is based on the lives of some Martu girls, including Doris's mother, Molly Craig, Daisy Craig and Gracie Fields.

In 2002, Martu were granted native title to much of their country, after almost two decades of struggle^[2]. It was geographically the largest claim in Australia to that time. However, Karlamilyi (Rudall River National Park) was not included. Teddy Biljabu said at the time that they had been given 'a body without its heart'.

[edit] Martu kinship

Main article: Australian Aboriginal kinship

Martu society is divided into four skin groups, or subsections. There are very strict rules as to who may marry whom:

Male skin name	Can only mary female skin name	Children will be
Panaka	Karimarra (Garimara)	Milangka
Purungu	Milangka	Karimarra (Garimara)
Karimarra (Garimara)	Panaka	Purungu
Milangka	Purungu	Panaka

[edit] References

Davenport, Sue, Johnson, Peter & Yuwali, Cleared Out: First Contact in the Western Desert, Aboriginal Studies Press, 2005, ISBN 0855754575
Tonkinson, R, The Mardu Aborigines: living the dream in Australia's desert, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1991, ISBN 0030322820
Survival International