Martu people

The Martu are a tribe of Aborigines in Western Australia, Australia. 2002 got them over a total area 136,000 square kilometers by the High Court of Australia one of the largest Native Title in Australia. Today there are about 1000 Martu. About 50 to 200 of them live on their ancestral land, and feed on their traditional hunting and bush foods.

The Native Title of the Martu extends over an area in the Pilbara and Percival Lakes region in Western Australia and is adjacent to the territory of the Pintupi Aborigines. The hard-won land rights in court goes back to a decades-long interest struggle that began in 1946 with the Pilbara Strike of several hundred farm workers who against the working conditions, inter alia, turned in the dairy industry, their jobs left and claimed their ancestral land.

The language group Martu Wangka includes various dialects as Manyjilyjarra, Kartujarra, Kiyajarra, Putijarra, Nyiyaparli, Warnman, Ngulipartu, Pitjikala, Kurajarra, Jiwaliny, Mangala and Nangajarra. In their language Martu means " one of us" or "person."

Groups of the Martu live in the Aboriginal settlements Jigalong, Wiluna, Punmu, Parnngurr and Kunawarritji. The most important community Parnngurr, about 1,000 km north-east of Perth in the previous Rudall River National Park, which was renamed in Karlamilyi National Park.

Through the territory of the Martu leads the Rabbit-Proof Fence. The same film is based on the experiences of three girls from the tribe of Martu. The Martu area was so far away from civilization that many of the Martu first came into contact with whites, as from 1906 to 1907, the Canning Stock Route was built.

The documentary Contact 2009 shows the first meeting of a group of 20 female Martus and two whites from 1964, which was awarded both nationally and internationally.