Nakako is a part of the Western Desert language group. The Western Desert encompasses a large expanse of land in the centre of the country, and traverses the state borders of Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.
Nearly all of the information on the Nakako ‘tribe’ was gathered by Norman Tindale of the South Australian Museum in the 1950s and 1960s. According to Tindale, Nakako people lived ‘south and southwest of the Blackstone Ranges; at Bell Rock Range; encountered first by the patrol officer at Woomera, W.B. MacDougall, about 1953; not seen again until 1961 although an unsuccessful attempt was made in 1957 to follow their tracks south of the Blyth Range. They use wooden spears with up to three hooked barbs carved in the solid. They camped at Mount Davies and at Mamutjara (south of Blackstine Ranges) in November 1963 and were studied by our University of Adelaide party then and again in 1966’ (Tindale, Aboriginal Tribes of Australia,1974, p.249)
At present the MLT is pursuing further research on this language and seeking to contact Nakako people or those with knowledge of this language.
AIATSIS id : A.32
VARIATIONS
Kakaku, Nangako, Nangakopitja (Pitjantjatjara name), Wanudjara.
DISCLAIMER:
The above map is based upon the Horton Indigenous Map of Australia © Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS, and Auslig/Sinclair, Knight, Merz, 1996. The full map is available on the AIATSIS website. The locations of the languages of SA, as stated on the this website are not intended for Land Claim use, and are an approximate guide only. Individual language project locations are based on information from publicly available MILR (ILS) documents.