Central Australian Excursion

Extract

In June this year a Central Australian excursion was organized by the Department of Labor and Ceduna Area School for seven of the school’s secondary Aboriginal students. With the exception of Keith Peters, a first year student who had recently come to Ceduna from Yalata, the students had had very little contact with the tribal way of life. They were ignorant of Aboriginal customs and laws, and in some respects this ignorance had led to contempt or fear. Some of the boys were, for example, terrified that they could be taken and forcibly initiated, so that, when on the first evening of the trip we were stopped by some Yalata people on the road south of Coober Pedy, they begged us to drive on, and hid their faces under blankets in the back seat. The second night (Saturday June 21st) we camped out for the first time just north of the turn-off to Indulkana. Keith, a great comedian, but at this stage not well-known to, or accepted by, the others in the group, decided to stir them up by mentioning that there were “wild nungas” in the area. This raised considerable alarm and for the rest of the night few of the boys dared to leave the campfire without a strong stick and a friend as a bodyguard.