Camels and the Pitjantjara

A landmark documentary from 1969 which records the Pitjantjara use of camels in Central Australia

From the 1920s onwards, when motor vehicles displaced camels as a mode of supply in central Australia, camels gradually went feral. As this film shows, however, in the 1960s, the Pitjantjara were making good use of camels to facilitate their travels and connections with other areas. This remarkable film follows a group of Pitjantjara men, led by "Captain", a veteran cameleer, who travel out from their base at Areyonga Settlement, to capture a wild camel, tame it and add it to their domestic herds. They then use camels to help transport a large group of people from Areyonga to Papunya, three days' walk away. This film is a beautifully photographed observation of daily activities in the lives of the Pitjantjara and their camels. The film also touches on the malaise of life at Areyonga, where the men are generally bored: "yesterday's skills are meaningless" in the Settlement where food and necessities are generally supplied.