Spinifex People

The Spinifex people, or Pila Nguru, are an Indigenous Australian people, whose traditional lands are situated in the Great Victoria Desert, in the Australian state of Western Australia, adjoining the border with South Australia, to the north of the Nullarbor Plain. They maintain in large part their traditional hunter-gatherer existence within the territory, over which their claims to Native title and associated collective rights were recognised by a 28 November 2000 Federal Court decision. In 1997 an art project was started in which indigenous paintings became part of the title claim. A major exhibit of their works in London in 2005 brought the artists wide attention.

Pila Nguru translates as "home country in the flat between sandhills". Their 'common' name comes from the Spinifex grasses, which are prevalent in this desert region. As European settlers of the region considered the lands remote, inhospitable and unsuited for agriculture, and even pastoralism; there has been comparatively little direct contact between the two cultures and peoples.