the pintupi nine were a group of aboriginal australians. they are said to have been the last aborigines in australia to come into contact with modern civilisation. the group lived a nomadic, hunter-gatherer way of life in the great sandy desert, before they met with their relatives near kiwirrkurra in october 1984. most other groups from this region had left the desert over 20 years before. they had been settled in towns to the east and west, but this group had stayed behind.