[14] Passage to this status was marked by the right to wear a red headband, though as post-initiates (tjawarratja) they were still required to dwell apart from the main camp as elders continued to instruct them.

Learning the lore required that the initiates had to supply their elders with foodstuffs like meat, a scarce resource in the area.

In this sense, the tjukurrpa system also functioned as a cross-generational mode of exacting obedience and an income from the younger men.

[14] The Ngaanyatjarra had a moiety system divided into sun-side (Tjirntulukultul(pa)) and shade-side (Ngumpalurrungkatja), with a 6 section classification.

[23] The area is "dry" meaning that the destructive effects of excessive alcoholic consumption are not in evidence throughout their communities, and longevity has been a characteristic of the people.

[21] Until the 1960s, contact with the outside world had been sparse and relatively benign, with none of the disruption of displacement from their traditional terrain typically suffered by Aborigines generally.

[6] The Ngaanyatjarra made a claim to native title, and on 29 June 2005 their lands were the subject of the largest native title determination in Australian history, according to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma,[26] when a Federal Court hearing presided by Justice Michael Black ruled on the claim to 187,000 square kilometres (72,000 sq mi) in Western Australia.