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Early last month, hundreds of Adnyamathanha people began travelling from their rocky ancestral lands around the Flinders Ranges and from elsewhere in South Australia to gather at Port Augusta, a town known as the nation’s crossroads.
As the evening of April 9 drew in
, there was mounting anticipation. Some found shelter with relatives or friends; others unrolled swags as evening temperatures plunged in the desert air.
Hope had drawn them – hope that when the next day dawned there would be light shed, at last, on the millions of dollars from mining revenues which had poured through a maze of entities associated with the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association (ATLA), the body set up to manage their native title rights.