freddy west was born in the great sandy desert sometime in the early 1930s. he was born in the pollock hills, north of where kiwirrkura is today, and lived a nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle for the first half of his life. he and his family were mostly based along the western shore of lake mackay. they often travelled with another group, led by a man named waku tjungurrayi. these families became some of the last nomadic groups left in the desert – most other families having been settled in government stations since the 1950s. in 1962, west decided that he would go and join his relatives, who were living at papunya. this is traditionally luritja land, but the pintupi had become displaced here because of weapons tests being done at woomera. he met some officers of the territory's welfare department in the area of dovers hills, and arranged for them to take him and his family to papunya in a year's time. in august 1963, west and his family began to walk to papunya and met the welfare officers on the way. west had two wives: parara and payu, who were sisters of the napaltjarri skin grouping.