Behind the glistening turquoise waves at a popular beach on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula lie earthy pebbles of rich brown ochres and jagged quartz shards, scattered on the sandy hinterland, glinting like diamonds in the sun.
The landscape is sand and limestone. These rocks are not from here.
Their presence is proof of connection to land from a time long ago, when the area was home to the Nauo people and this area was used for men's ceremonies.
The Nauo people will once again have a role to play in this sacred area after the Federal Court last week granted them native title over 7,951 square kilometres of the lower Eyre Peninsula.
Their bid for recognition began 32 years ago with now-elder Jody Miller sitting down with his mother and Aunty Meryl Weetra Height.
The formal process was 28 years in the making and it is symbolic of the resilience of the Nauo people, who were almost wiped out by white settlers.
Close to annihilation
There were just seven Nauo people left alive at the end of the frontier settlement wars on Eyre Peninsula in the mid-1800s.
Last week at Coffin Bay about 150 descendants and friends celebrated a historic return to their country and a formal acknowledgement that they were the first people of the area.
Mr Miller, 55, did not think he'd live to see the day his people would gain access to their lands.
"The lower Eyre Peninsula is a very significant and cultural place for Nauo people," he said.
"We are the caretakers of this land where we camp, fish, hunt, gather and share our stories that extend across Australia."
He remembers sitting down at age 23 with his mother and Aunty Marlene Weetra Height to talk about pursuing native title.
"It's been a long journey," he said.
"I never thought this day would come; with the pressure and life span of Aboriginal people, I didn't think I'd be here today.
"We're here as caretakers like we were back in the days."
Mr Miller said the first step for the Nauo nation would be to improve health and education for the next generation.
'We never left'
Nauo traditional owner and Coffin Bay resident Michael Miller said recognition was important.
"Today means celebration, closure, the end of a very long 28-year struggle to get recognition of our country, formal recognition of our country, and to be author of our own destiny," he said.
"We are a very, very small people. Throughout the frontier wars and colonisation, basically our people were annihilated ... there was a few Nauo people, ancestors that were moved off country.
"We're here, we never left, they tried but we're a resilient people.
"It's about recognition and giving us a seat at the table to make our own decisions and our own destinies and giving us opportunities to become an economic powerhouse."
Part of a compensation package from the state government is the gift of blocks of land in Coffin Bay that Michael Miller said the Nauo people could use for economic development and independence, including ventures in tourism and fishing.
He said the Lower Eyre Peninsula District Council had been receptive to hearing the Nauo voice on issues on their country, and this could see management input including signage at popular tourism sites.
Native title twist
Anthropologist and archaeologist Scott Cane said the native title claim was significant because of the decimation of the Nauo and their survival.
"The importance of the Nauo is that they were really, in my opinion, they were impacted at that same extreme level as people in northern Queensland and Tasmania where they were basically exterminated," Mr Cane said.
"But members of the community that did survive retained their connection to traditional law and custom through the agency with other Aboriginal people living around their area.
"There's a twist in native title, and the twist is that to have your rights recognised in relation to country and society, you have to demonstrate that you still have a cohesive society and you still have active tradition laws and customs.
"The twist is that the more impacted, often the greater the extent of death and loss, the less chance you have of getting your rights recognised.
"There's an inherent historic wrong that is difficult to right, because the people who are most harmed, most damaged, most disenfranchised are the ones who find it hardest to get their rights as Indigenous people in relation to their land recognised."
The Nauo also have shared native title of an area from Port Kenny to Elliston with the Wirangu people and are expected to be granted native title later in the year of an area south of Port Lincoln including the Lincoln National Park and all the land south.
