Desert People

2019

Computer Files, Websites

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Summary

Desert People was shot in 1965 in the Gibson Desert of the Australian Western Desert. There was still a handful of family groups perhaps three or four, living a nomadic hunter-food gatherer life, somewhere in the heart of the desert. Desert People tells simply of a day in the life of two families of the Western Desert. Djagamara and his family were filmed where they were found. They were camped by an unusually plentiful supply of water, a pool in an otherwise dry creek bed at Badjar in the Clutterbuck Hills. Djagamara collects spinifex gum and melts this ready for use. He collects and makes stone flakes. His wives collect the seed of woolybutt grass, grind it and make seed cake. The second part of the film is about Minma and his family. They had recently (some months previously) gone to live at Warburton mission. The film unit took Minma and his family back to his country to record his life as it had always been until a few months before. This footage has been edited into the form of a journey by Minma’s family from one well to another. As they travel from Yalara to Tika Tika they collect small animals, lizards, and vegetable foods. At Tika Tika, the family make camp, collect water from Tika Tika well, cook the food and go to bed.