In 1964, the eyes of the Australian nation were fixed on its Western Desert. The British and Australian governments were about to fire the controversial Blue Streak rockets across the inland. To the ministers in Canberra and London this was an ideal firing range: empty desert, a place they called the 'dump zone'. But to one seventeen-year-old girl and her family, it was home.
Cleared out is the extraordinary story of the events that winter. Sue Davenport, Peter Johnson and Yuwali - that same Martu girl - recreate this astonishing period in vivid detail. Records of the political outrage, the public outcry, and the battles in the corridors of government are contrasted with Yuwali's first-hand accounts and those of the patrol officers sent to round up her family.
Paperback
208 pages
Premier's Prize Winner - Western Australian Premiers Book Awards
