‘Exodus’? Rethinking histories of movement and migration in the Western Desert and Central Australia from an Anangu perspective

Abstract

Much has been assumed and written about the reasons Anangu walked out of their desert homelands and took up residence on pastoral stations and mission settlements in Central Australia. Anangu oral histories of these migrations work to illuminate the contingent nature of historical knowledge and the inherent difficulties in writing the history of a colonial frontier. This article seeks to move beyond the question of why, and explore how people came to be at particular places so far away from home. Such an approach privileges the spatial perspective of Anangu historical narratives and demonstrates a complex and gradual historical process, located both in places and within socio-cultural contexts.This article has been peer reviewed.