The decision was welcomed by Lester, who had accused other Anangu of "stealing our stories". He told the Australian: "We feel happy our voice has been heard." But it dismayed more than 50 Anangu people who had travelled to Adelaide from the far-flung APY (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Lands for last night's gala opening.
The wider project, called Alive with the Dreaming!, brought together academics and art curators in a venture to map the songlines of Aboriginal Australia - the journeys undertaken by ancient spirits - and preserve them for future generations.
Instead, the project - co-ordinated by the ANU and funded by the Australian Research Council - has become mired in bitter internecine politics. David Miller, chairman of the Anangku Arts and Cultural Aboriginal Corporation, the peak body for APY artists, told the Australian most traditional owners supported the Adelaide exhibition.
"We are the cultural elders," he said. "We are all sitting around now, asking each other 'How come this one's going to be closed?"' Another Anangu elder, Frank Young, said some of the show's opponents were not traditional law men. "These people here, they are the traditional owners of the country," he said, referring to those who travelled to Adelaide.
"They said that they [Anangu traditional owners] wanted to record it on CD because their young people were very engaged in Western education, were learning a lot from CDs, from TV," Diana James, a senior research associate at the ANU who coordinated the project, told ABC radio.
' Lester, though, told the Australian last week: "Some of our people just want to sell off Aboriginal culture for money."