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PANANGA, ALURRPA (‘Cold Weather’) also known as SANDHILL BOB (c1870–c1940), Aboriginal leader,
was born at Urringa, a good Eastern Aranda water soakage on the Plenty River in the northern most part of the
Simpson Desert. Here the Perenty monster lizard was associated with the carrying of fire—a key Dreaming for
‘Sandhill Bob’, as Alurrpa was to become known. His father’s country was on the Marshall River, and Snake
Dreamings linked him both further north to the Alyawarra people and south into the Simpson Desert. Through his
mother, he was linked to the Wangkonguru of the ‘inside’ and southern Simpson Desert country.
He was the oldest of six children, and as a result of good seasons in his childhood years, the family travelled
widely and deeply in the northern Simpson Desert. They went at least as far west as the Hale River, travelled
east across the sandhill country to the Plenty River (and also travelled back and forth on that river to its flood out
areas), further east to the Hay River, and almost certainly well towards both Boulia and Birdsville in Queensland.
The eastern travel was invariably to obtain pituri, a narcotic highly prized over a wide area.
At about the age of eight years Alurrpa first heard of white people; his father and his father’s brother had seen
them and their strange ‘monster’ animals, horses. However, the family remained substantially without contact with
Europeans until the late 1880s. At this time, following the discovery of gold at Arltunga in 1887, many Aborigines
were attracted to the area by stories of strange people, animals and goods.
A consequence of the various movements of people was that, of the six of the group of brothers and sisters,
only Sandhill Bob knew in intimate detail the location of the sites that were deep in the desert. (In fact, early in
the twentieth century one of his brothers, chosen as a guide, almost ‘perished’ the prospector Simon Rieff and
himself, and did ‘perish’ many of their camels, because he knew of the sites more by stories than by actual recalled
visits.)
As with most Aborigines who became intrigued by the miners and their activities, Sandhill Bob was quick to
learn—about minerals, processed foods, livestock of all kinds, and so on. In 1904, he acted as guide to Walter Smith
and an uncle during a prospecting trip down the Hale River. A good season in about 1910 saw him as a participant
at ceremonies at a claypan water well into the Simpson Desert. Hundreds of people attended in what, unknown to
all, was to be the last great ‘corroboree’ gathering at this site.
It is likely that, as a result of the movements of people into centres of population, Sandhill Bob’s parents in
law came to live at Boulia in Queensland. Certainly, he travelled there on several occasions, at first on foot and
later on camels with his younger mate, Walter Smith. In 1915 he was a key figure in ‘carrying’—travelling and
performing—the famous Mulunga corroboree from Boulia to the Marshall River country.
The terrible influenza epidemic of 1919 to 1920 killed many, many Aborigines, and the truly great gatherings,
involving several hundred people at favoured places in and about the Simpson Desert, ceased. Fortunately for
Sandhill Bob and his wife, they were unharmed, and on occasions still managed some journeys.
By the middle to late 1920s, the oldest men of the Hale River country and further east were greatly troubled.
None of their surviving children were greatly interested in the ‘inside’ desert country, and they were too old to
again travel the sandhills. However, in 1929 they determined that they should do their best to ensure the survival
of their knowledge, and if possible locate gold or copper that would allow them to be independent. They chose, as
their fittest representative, Walter Smith Purula. And so, in the cooler time of 1929, Sandhill Bob guided Walter
Smith across the sandhills, visiting sites and teaching him the songs. At times Smith felt sorry for his old mate,
who from time to time searched for signs of smokes that would tell of people hunting as they had in his youth.
Always, though, he was disappointed. The people had substantially lost the fine, detailed knowledge and now,
although still prepared to follow down the Plenty or other rivers in a good season, rarely ventured beyond the
second sandhill on either side of the banks. Sandhill Bob put up his own travelling, signal smokes, but none came
in reply. He was the last great traveller of the sandhill country.
As he grew older Sandhill Bob was increasingly obliged to stay on the well defined tracks between such as the
Plenty and Marshall Rivers. His wife accompanied him, carrying her digging stick, a billycan of water and other
items.
In about 1940, during an intensely hot spell of weather, they paused briefly at one soakage, and then decided to
push on. They were found dead, along with their perished dog and an empty billy can, not far from Bob’s father’s
Marshall River country. It was a tragic ending for all, made even more tragic by the fact that Sandhill Bob was the
most knowledgeable of all active people about that area.
Much as others remained who retained good knowledge of the language and myths, Alurrpa Pananga’s death
marked the end of an era. He was the last person to have grown to young manhood in the northern Simpson Desert
before the great disruptions occurred with the coming of the Europeans.
R G Kimber, ‘Mulunga Old Mulunga’, in P Austin, R M W Dixon & I White (eds), Language and History, 1990, Man from Arltunga, 1986;
J Stead, ‘Simpson Desert Land Claim Area II’, unpublished, 1991; tape recordings of discussions about Sandhill Bob with W Smith, recorded
by R G Kimber 1981–1983.
R G KIMBER, Vol 2.
PARER, JOHN JOSEPH (PA) (1856–1930), publican, was born in Victoria in 1856. By the time he came
to Darwin, he had been a publican in most Australian colonies. In the 1890s during the early gold rush days,