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Cleared out : first contact in the Western Desert
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Cleared out : first contact in the Western Desert

by Sue Davenport, Peter Johnson, Yuwali

Combining oral histories with official reports, maps, and illustrations, this book details the 1964 first contact between twenty Aboriginal women and children in the Western Desert and patrol officers clearing a rocket range.

Accession 15518 ISBN 9780855754570 Publisher Aboriginal Studies Press
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TAGS
Curated Derived
Astronomy Australia Communication Culture Ethnology Geography History Social Sciences Stories Water Writing
CONNECTIONS
No connections
State
on_shelf
True
position_updated_at
2026-05-27 10:45
orientation
vertical
Details

Physical

binding_type
Hard Back
dimensions
none captured
spine_text
none captured

Metadata

Book form
LOCATION HISTORY
M:N4:25 2 Current vertical
2 weeks ago
Book Location
Updated 2 weeks ago
Vernon snapshot
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Frozen copy of Vernon's record from the last sync. Fields tagged → flow back into the Pulse record.

Last synced 2026-05-21 01:10 (2 weeks, 6 days ago)

Identity

name→ title
Cleared out : first contact in the Western Desert
vernon_id
24467
accession_no→ accession_number
15518
vernon_slug
cleared-out-first-contact-in-the-western-desert-sue-davenport-peter-johnson-yuwali

Drives Pulse state

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On Shelf
location_name
Zone N4/Level 2 (Mezzanine)/Phrontisterion/MONA
location_reason
On Shelf
isbn_issn→ isbn (when valid)
9780855754570

Descriptive

production_date
2011
object_type
Books/Document genres/Information forms/Visual and Verbal Communication
object_status
Accessioned
brief_description
In 1964, a group of 20 Aboriginal women and children in the Western Desert made their first contact with European Australians patrol officers from the Woomera Rocket Range, clearing an area into which rockets were to be fired. They had been pursued by the patrol officers for several weeks, running from this frightening new force in the desert. Yuwali, 17 at the time, remembers every detail of the drama first seeing these devils "and their rocks that moved", escaping the strange intruders.

Subjects & people

authors→ author (initial fill only)
Peter Johnson, Sue Davenport, Yuwali
tags→ tags
History, Social sciences, Civilisation, Sociology, Communication, Landforms, Earth (Planet) -- Surface, Inner planets, Planets, Solar system, Aboriginal Australians, Ethnology -- Australia, Authorship, World history, Oral communication, Earth (planet), History, Modern -- 20th century, Bodies of water, Water, Aboriginal Australians -- History, Mardu (Australian people), Western Desert (W.A.), Deserts -- Australia, Historiography, Oral tradition, 12028, Great Sandy Desert (W.A.), Oral history, History -- Methodology, Percival Lakes, Lakes -- Australia
subject_people
—
subject_objects
—

Cover image

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