Indigenous seasonal indicators and climate change
The Wilderness Society’s Wild Country Small Grants program supports some valuable and really interesting projects. In the Great Western Woodlands, CSIRO scientists have been working with the Ngadju People to document their traditional seasonal calendar, and explore its implications for environmental management in the face of climate change.
Ngadju Country incorporates a large proportion of the Great Western Woodlands and includes landscapes of mallee, sandplain heaths and a mosaic of different woodlands.
Traditionally, Indigenous Australians relied on an intimate knowledge of seasonal cycles for ensuring a year-round supply of food, medicines and other resources. They used plants, animals, stars and the weather to indicate when to undertake resource management activities, when to shift camps or to hold cultural events.
Many Indigenous seasonal calendars have been recorded in tropical northern Australia, but fewer are known from southern Australia.
This study conducted in the Great Western Woodlands of Western Australia is an important contribution to understanding the ecology of the region and the environmental challenges we face.
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The importance of including Indigenous ecological knowledge and viewpoints in environmental management in Australia is being increasingly recognised. The seasonal knowledge held by the Traditional Owners — built up over tens of thousands of years — can help communities understand many of the changes now occurring due to climate change.
Through this project, Ngadju people have shared aspects of their knowledge about traditional seasons and indicators with CSIRO, to produce an interpretative seasonal calendar.
The project provides a first step to understanding how climate change may impact on traditional activities and land management in the future and will assist Ngadju people to reach their aspirations in relation to land management and pursuit of cultural activities.
The collation of a seasonal calendar provides an important resource for educating our community in a greater understanding of the environment we live in whilst ensuring Ngadju traditional knowledge is passed on to future generations.
The project also builds collaboration between the Ngadju people and the science community, giving the Traditional Owners a voice in an important forum for the future management of the Great Western Woodlands.
A portion of the Ngadju Calendar from the calendar report, to appear soon on the CSIRO website (www.csiro.au).
O’Connor, M.H. and Prober, S.M. (2010). A calendar of Ngadju seasonal knowledge. A report to Ngadju Community and Working Group. CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Floreat, WA.
