They were left alone more than some of the surrounding groups, owing to the type of land offering poor grazing for European livestock, and there are no mines in the area.

[4] The 29,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi) of land lies in the far eastern area of the Pilbara region, in the Great Sandy Desert.

[4] The land includes vast sandplains and dunefields as well as mountain ranges and mesas, ephemeral lakes, claypans and seasonal swamps.

[3] Threatened species of fauna include the bilby (Macrotis lagotis), great desert skink (Egernia kintorei), marsupial mole (Notoryctes sp.

The ancient creeks flowing eastwards into the swamps provide for good hunting and foraging, and there were plentiful sources of wood for shelter and tools.