A common reference for informal or unrecognised urban Aboriginal living areas is ‘fringe camps’, while terms such as ‘fringe dwellers’ and ‘town campers’ have commonly been used to describe the residents of these types of places. Yet, both these terms for residents carry different connotations. These definitional problems with finding an appropriate term were detailed in a 1982 report by the Commonwealth Parliament’s House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs (HORSCATAA 1982). As Sanders (1984: 141) noted:
the report recounted in detail both suggested terms and descriptions, and objections raised. [For instance] the term ‘fringe dwellers’ was criticised, because of its lack of currency among Aboriginal [people] and its frequent use by non-Aboriginals as a term of opprobrium to refer to Aboriginal residents of towns and cities who, in the users’ view, should not be there.
The committee eventually decided to use the term ‘town campers’ because of its less subjective connotations.
These definitional problems are not only indicative of the marginal status of town camping as an Aboriginal urban lifestyle (Sanders ibid.), but it seems that the categorisation of such places as ‘camps’ is also an attempt to ensure their temporary status by playing into stereotypes of Aboriginal mobility. If these places are labelled as temporary, then it would appear to be the case that the state need not claim responsibility for them. Yet, as we found in the case of the Creek Camp, residential stability emerged as a pattern for a significant number of residents. The implications emerging from this definitional argument could of course equally be applied to the so-called ‘town camps’ in other towns along the highway, such as Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Elliot, as they are in fact Aboriginal suburbs. Unlike the Creek Camp, however, these ‘town camps’ now have some legitimacy as they are on various special purpose leases. Creek Camp is on unallocated Crown land, so the residents are effectively trespassing.
The appellation of ‘Creek Camp’ to the place at issue in this paper is a non-Aboriginal descriptor, which was not particularly used by Anmatyerr people, although they obviously knew what it referred to. Rather, the place did not seem to be referred to in general terms at all (except in structured contexts of ACGC meetings or this research), but rather was more specifically identified through residences within it, such as ‘Old Napurrula’s place’. Some older people specifically noted that the Anmatyerr name for the area was Aleyaw (Green et al. 2003: 21). This name refers to a ‘sacred site’ complex to the south of the council building, which represents two Dreamings that moved through what is now the town. The surrounding Ahakeye Land Trust gets its name from one of them (the bush plum). We were shown this place by two male Creek Camp residents and a councillor who was acting as our research facilitator.