We arrived in Ernabella where I was to assume the position of Community Adviser to the Pukatja Community Council after a harrowing journey through floods and mud. On alighting from the Land Rover our family was welcomed by the Council President. Quickly a small group of Pitjantjatjara women drew me aside. 'Welcome,' they said. 'Remember that there are a lot of women here who have opinions and needs too. Don't let the men dominate!'
The word Pukatja referred to a men's tjukurpa (dreaming) and the women were very conscious that they also had a mutual role to play in the running of the community. Clearly they feared that I'd be captured into a male dominated agenda. In the context of our arrival the words of these women have stuck with me over many years like the mud on the wheels of the Land Rover.
Pitjantjatjara culture has two sides. As a man I was welcomed into the men's side and was invited to man-making ceremonies. My wife was similarly quickly invited to attend women's secret business. We both went on trips to exclusive places and saw things that were religiously unforgettable.
Ernabella, having experienced Christianity under the mandate of the Scottish-born Aboriginal rights campaigner Dr Charles Duguid, had morphed into a two-domain religious community. While both men and women enthusiastically follow the tjukurpa at 'business time', on a Sunday many attend the Uniting Church in the heart of the community.
Our family felt quite at home in this new environment, but also benefited from visits by the Catholic priest from Coober Pedy. Father Paul was almost always accompanied by Sister Karen. Given Pitjantjatjara culture this was most sensible. In matters religious Paul could talk with the blokes but only Karen had entrée into the world of the women.
On Sundays we attended the Uniting Church. While the Church had ordained Peter Nyaningu he was not the only person who presided. Often other men or women led the service. Within the Uniting Church in Ernabella women played a pivotal role. The equal and complementary roles of men and women, so central to Pitjantjatjara religious practice, had been transferred to their Christian practices.
A few years later in Alice Springs I witnessed the work of Sister Robyn Reynolds OLSH in the Sacred Heart parish centre. She was a fluent Arrernte speaker and had close, warm bonds with the Catholic Arrernte women in Alice. There were other religious women