Forty-one participants came together from Jigalong, Punmu, Parnngurr, Kunawarritji, Wiluna, Hedland, Karratha, Nullagine and Newman to be a part of this year’s Kalyuku Ninti trip. This was an important pilgrimage for the Girgiba, Crusoe, Patch, Watson, Atkins and James families.

When Martu leaders from the West Australian desert town of Newman sat down with police to talk about the pervasive and complex problem of family violence, they agreed on one driving factor that was relatively easy to address.

“Our main hope was that we would find banded stilts, which was the main bird we did find in very large numbers, but it was a mainly a general survey which hadn’t been done before in any systematic way.”

Out here on the continent's western rim, as the campfire burns down in the evening chill and stars fleck a night sky so vast it takes your breath away, Martu woman Gladys Bidu​ is talking slowly and deliberately about a world few of us have the privilege of experiencing.