In March 1920, the area was made an aboriginal reserve, called the Petermann Reserve. It was meant to be a temporary refuge (safe place) for the Aṉangu. The government said they could continue their nomadic lifestyle there until they could be assimilated into white society. During the 1930s, there became more and more encounters between the natives and white people. Trading with dingo hunters (called "doggers") brought the natives food, tools and clothes they had not seen before. Many became curious about white people and their world.