Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese doomsday cult responsible for a range of criminal and terrorist acts. In April 1993 they purchased Banjawarn and built a facility there. The chairwoman for the Aboriginal community living near the sheep station, Phyllis Thomas, said that she and other Aboriginal people saw about five people wearing full-length suits and helmets on the remote site in late August 1993. The suited sect members were standing by a twin engine airplane and others were in the plane.