Warri and Yatunga were rescued in 1977 after spending forty odd years in the hostile environment of the
Gibson Desert.
They had eloped as they were very much in love and did not want to be separated.
Their love was a forbidden love. They were the wrong skin type for each other.
They had broken a very serious law punishable by spearing.
But they were not the last to come in from the desert to see white men for the first time.
In 1984 a family now called "The Pintupi Nine" walked east searching for other family members who had left the desert twenty years earlier. Two of this group came across some Pintupi men as they were getting water from a
well. They were all startled by the encounter. A shot was fired and spears were thrown and the
young men disappeared back into the sand dunes.
The men drove back into the tiny settlement of
Kiwirrkurra and said that they thought they had seen ghosts. Next morning others realising that they must be their long lost family, set off in a 4WD with some clothes to bring them in.
Four of "The Pintupi Nine" are
well known artists today.
The story of "The Warri Couple" and " The Pintupi Nine " are both amazing.
Yet few Australians have any knowledge of these people and their ancient culture - they are the nomads of the Australian Desert.
They evolved and adapted over tens of thousand years to the hostile conditions and mastered the survival skills needed for such a harsh environment.
We drive the desert tracks every winter in search of knowledge, adventure and wonderful art works for our galley -" honey ant gallery"in Noosa Heads, Q
Camel ahead - Gibson Desert.