Mintabie is an opal mining community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY lands) in South Australia. It was unique in comparison to other communities situated in the APY Lands, in that its residents were largely not of Aboriginal Australian origin, and the land had been leased to the Government of South Australia for opal mining purposes since the 1980s. History Background Aboriginal people were the first people to find opals in the area; during the First World War, they traded in black opals at Coober Pedy. Conditions were harsh, and it was only in 1976, with the help of new large machinery, that non-Indigenous people came to the area to mine, and a small township was established. At around the same time, Anangu began their struggle for land rights. Consequently, by the time the South Australian Parliament began to seriously consider granting land rights in the area, a growing number of opal miners were setting up operations around Mintabie. In November 1978, a Labor Government under Don Dunstan introduced a Bill to establish Pitjantjatjara land rights. A group of miners from Mintabie voiced strong opposition to the Bill, warning that the proposed legislation would "...act against future opal prospecting and mining ... tend to hinder any other industry set up by people other than Aboriginals... [and] give no real benefit to the Aboriginals but ... cause plenty of friction with the rest of the population. The Bill was still before Parliament when a state election was called. After the election, Anangu entered into a fresh round of negotiations with the newly elected Liberal government, under premier David Tonkin. On 2 October 1980 the Pitjantjatjara Council formally reached an agreement with the government on the provisions of a new Bill. Introduced into Parliament on 23 October 1980, the "Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Bill 1980" proposed granting Anangu title to a large area of land, which included the township of Mintabie. The Bill recognised that opal mining would continue at Mintabie and included provisions to control that activity. Certain occupancy rights were to be provided to prospectors but these would be balanced with processes that Anangu could use, if necessary, to have someone evicted from Mintabie. On 27 November 1980, the Mintabie Precious Stones Field was proclaimed by the government. Certain areas of this land were excluded from opal mining activity, including the township of Mintabie. Its name was assigned by notice in