Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa. Vol 19 August September 2013

Transcription

1 Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa Vol 19 August September AGM 2 Kalyuku Ninti: Yimiri 4 Waru project 5 Jigalong mankarr 7 Parnngurr mankarr 10 Punmu mankarr 12 Jigalong rangers 14 Parnngurr rangers 16 Punmu Rangers 17 Your Community Histories 17 Creative Partnership Awards 18 Cultural Awareness 19 Community Access Library 20 Board Meetings 21 What s coming up 22 Funders, supporters and partners Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa PO Box 504 Newman WA 6753 p: f: e: admin@kj.org.au

2 KJ AGM KJ had its Annual General Meeting for 2013 in Parnngurr on September 18. It was a very happy meeting, with many KJ workers and supporters coming from Parnngurr, Punmu, Kunawarritji, Jigalong and Newman. Clifton Girgiba was Chairman of the meeting and did a great job. Show of hands for a resolution The CEO, Peter See, gave a report on all of the good work that KJ had done over the 2012/13 financial year. He talked about how KJ will grow bigger in 2013/14, with more secure funding and with more men and women rangers. Gerald Keyer explained all of the money, showing that KJ is in a healthy financial position. Gavin Nanudie and some of the other Punmu rangers gave a presentation on a recent trip and talked about how keen they are to be working. Thelma Judson gave a presentation on the recent trip to Yimiri, which made people very happy. Men listening to the meeting The members elected seven new directors: Clive Samson (Newman), Luke Frank and Mark Jeffries (Jigalong), Lindsay Robinson (Parnngurr), Dwayne Minyardie (Punmu), Maclean Williams (Kunawarritji) and Boris Billycan (Bidyadanga). Nancy talking about her work with KJ 1 Punmu rangers talking about their work

3 Kalyuku Ninti: Yimiri The whole group at Yimiri In August, 51 Martu and 9 whitefellas travelled 1000km round trip in 16 vehicles for 12 days. The group went from Punmu to Kunawarritji, up the Canning Stock Route to Well 40 then west along the Percival Lakes and then back south down the WAPET road to Punmu. The old people Thelma Judson, Joshua Booth, Nyari Morgan, Yanjami Rowlands and Waka Taylor showed the young people how to get to their waterholes in their country. They also explained about the families who belong to the country, stories about those families and the places we visited and asked the rangers to go back to those places to look after the country. On the trip were members of the Jigalong, Parnngurr and Punmu/ Kunawarritji ranger teams and people from Bidyadanga who joined the Punmu team for this trip. Ezekiel taking photos of his family with his ipad It was a really good trip. Although we broke the record for flat tyres getting about 30 flats and having so many people to look after and cook for, the ranger teams worked really hard and everybody stayed healthy and happy. A big Thank You to Thelma Judson who did a great job of finding waterholes in country with no roads and telling so many stories for the young people. Also a big thank you to all the ranger teams, ranger coordinators and KJ staff for all their hard work. Rangers fixing flat tyres 2

4 Filling up the convoy at Kunawarritji before heading out on the trip Alwyn and Zyrack cleaning up Joshua s grandfather s grave near Well 40 Collecting firewood Paying respects at Kupankurlu Paying respects at Kurtararra Mini grind stone found on the trip Everyone pitching in to get a car out of a bog 3 Shelia drinking from Kirriwirri watching the waru set by the rangers

5 These large spinifex clumps are protecting mankarr populations from cats, a good reason to protect some old grass from fire Waru Project As the seasons change, with hot days, dry grass and changing winds, the rangers have stopped burning country for the year. This is a good time to think about the great work that Martu have been doing looking after their country this field season. Waru has been made for hunting, looking after sites, looking after jukurrpa, and cleaning up country from Yimiri in the far north, all the way to Kaalpi. This year has been good for waru, with fire sizes smaller, meaning that the country is becoming patchier, rather than just being old grass or nyurnma. This is good for little animals, as well as kipara (bustard), because it means there are lots of places for them to hide, and still places that they can find fresh country that is good for their food. It also helps keep people safe from big wildfires in summer. man comes in October, or there is a YouTube link from the Rangelands NRM website. There is also an animation of the art of fire book written by Jimmy Pike, which talks in language about how Martu use fire. This movie will also be in communities soon. Waru man will be going to Jigalong, Punmu and Parnngurr to show some fire maps to everyone, and talk about how we can look after country best next fire season. It might mean more training, more trips with old people, or maybe some time with the helicopter and DPaW burning. It will be good to work together again next year. On the recent trip to Yimiri, waru was lit to protect sites and to make sure we were travelling the country the right way. It was great to see Martu making sure they were looking after that place, and doing waru the right way for country. Fiona Walsh from the CSIRO finished making a DVD that shows some of the ways Martu use fire and talks about some of the dangers with it as well. If you would like to see the DVD, there will be some in the communities soon, when waru Yanjami, Jeremy and Corbin lighting a fire between Kurtararra and Yimiri, on the Kalyuku Ninti trip 4

6 Jigalong mankarr Seven Jigalong women headed out to Kaalpi and Jilukurru for a week to help with the warru (rock wallaby) translocation project, which was done with several DPaWs staff and fauna specialists. A little rain and lightning travelled with the group for the first night which luckily didn t stick around too long, but gave a spectacular sound show echoing around the range. Kaalpi camp was dusty and windy. The team started at 5am each day in order to check and release the warru before the day s sun hit. The women and rangers split up with the DPaWs staff and scientists and headed off each morning to clamber up through the rocks and check the traps. Those warru that were caught for the first time were micro-chipped, had DNA samples taken and were chosen for either translocation or setting free. Lots of the wanti (female) warru had tiny pouch young, and/or a joey, which was exciting but meant they weren t suitable to go. By 9am the warru that had been chosen to fly were sent off in the helicopter to rest for the day at Pinpi. Tammy with a joey Madeline, Louise, Pamela and Justin have a moment with a warru The middle of the days were hot and, although some attempts were made to complete fauna monitoring plots, most of the time was spent under the shade of a tree to escape the heat. In the late afternoon everyone would set off again to reset the traps and bait them with delicious apple and sweet potato which were enjoyed greatly as shown by the number of captures each morning. On the third day the mankarr team packed up camp and headed off to Pinpi. Water monitoring and lunch were good reasons to stop at Sunday Well, followed by fauna monitoring at a known mankarr (bilby) site, which is still active. It was the first time some of the newer team members had seen mankarr signs so it was a great learning experience. Louise helps Minguwa bait and reset the traps Arrival at Pinpi was just in time for the afternoon s release. Around 20 tourists were present and were lucky enough to be spectators. A wonderful speech was given by Lindsey Crusoe in memory of the late senior Jigalong ranger. 5

7 As he and his son opened the doors to the carry cases all waited with bated breath for the warru s exit. Eventually the cases needed a little nudge to get them moving and there were smiles all round as they hopped off into their new home. The mankarr team were involved in many daytime activities at Pinpi spring, including water testing, plant identification, flights around the gorge, learning family history and of course hunting lungki (witchetty grubs). David Taggert, Minguwa (Alison McGilvray) and Brooke Halkyard showed Martu how the radio and GPS collars are attached to the warru and everyone helped release them into the gorge, giving each one the name of someone special as they hopped away. Sharing Martu knowledge of local flora and fauna at Pinpi After a long and busy week, the Jigalong mankarr team hit the road for home. After the warru trip, four days were spent doing day trips out from the community. The first two days included fauna monitoring on four new monitoring sites and one old site. The last two days were spent monitoring water quality at some priority sites: Yurltuwinti, Meeka Spring, Ngujupunya and Nuuka Spring. Ngujupunya was dry but Nuuka Spring had lots of water there were even fish. Lots of different family groups were involved over the four days. Each day there were at least two new women coming out to see what the work is like. Water quality monitoring at Pinpi The day trips always included both old and young Martu, which is really important for cross-generational knowledge transfer as well as ensuring continuing interest in the program. There will be another week of field work in October before the weather gets too hot and the field season ends for another year. Moranda entering Sunday Well survey numbers using Ozi explorer 6

8 Parnngurr mankarr The Mankarr program in Parnngurr over August and September has had great support from different families who have come along and provided their skills and expertise. The work vehicle has been full of senior women, younger women, and on Sundays children have come along to learn traditional knowledge from their families and Western methods of looking after country. The team has visited two new water places and carried out water monitoring at Yantikuji and a part of Karlamilyi River. The Williams and Kadibil families revisited a water monitoring site from 2012, at Wirnukurnujurnu. Last year the water was in good condition. This year the water was black and silted with mud. The women decided it needed to be completely cleaned out. Kanu Taylor talked about how to clean a waterhole out in pujiman (bushman) times, using a wooden implement to make a plate. We used pannikin cups and shovels. Rocks were moved away and as much mud and dirty water was taken out, until it was all gone. After this you could see the spring in the bottom feeding the soak with clear water. We had lunch and came back to a sparkling clean water place. Everyone felt rewarded and happy. This is a good example of why the team revisits water monitoring sites, which allows us to see changes in the landscape. Winukurnujurnu, before cleaning it out Everyone cleaning out Winukurnujurnu 7 Clean water at Winukurnujurnu

9 The team revisited fauna monitoring sites from a few years ago and some new sites, out towards Desert Queen Baths, near Karlamilyi River and past Yantikuji. Also a new site not far from Parnngurr, where the ladies had previously seen some langamarlu (mulgara). The country around Parnngurr has had a diversity of flowering plant species. The team has been identifying and collecting plants, using traditional knowledge to identifying species, medicinal uses and recording all of the Martu names. The women spoke about how the temperature has changed. They explained that we are leaving the cold time and moving into warmer times and the season is called tulparra (spring). This is also the driest time tikirlurru and time to use waru (fire) carefully, so that big waru that burns for days does not happen. The Parnngurr mankarr team has used waru throughout the field season for a number of reasons this year: to clean up country, to hunt parnajarrpa (goanna) in dens, to encourage kipara (bustard), who feed on burnt insects) to burnt country for Martu to hunt and to regenerate seeds of bush tomatoes species. Generally, these fires lit by the mankarr team have been smaller fires as they have occurred in nyurnma (country recently burnt 0-6 months) and waru-waru (country 6-12 months after fire). The Parnngurr mankarr team is getting ready for the end of our field season. Our last trip is coming up in October, when the team will review the program for the year and start planning work for Water testing at Karlamilyi River Nancy and Waka Taylor collecting Warmala (Solanum Diversiflorum) Sharon Taylor cleaning up country 8

10 Joint mankarr trip Punmu and Parnngurr mankarr teams went out a joint trip on country at the end of August to Yantikuji (Duck Pool). The women were very excited to be meeting with family members from both communities and catching up to do land management work and camp together. Parnngurr team happy picking flowers It took the Parnngurr mankarr team about three hours drive to get to Yantikuji. Along the way bush foods were collected and water places were talked about that the team could monitor on the way home. Parnngurr mankarr team arrived first and waited with anticipation for Punmu team to arrive at sunset. While we waited we set up camp, talked with tourists about our program and collected lungki (witchetty grubs). The Punmu team arrived with cheers from the Parnngurr team, dinner was put on and we gathered around the campfire, where families talked and the next day was planned. Ngamaru s deadly damper Group mankarr team photo The next day, the two teams carried out water monitoring of the waterhole, which was an oasis in the hot desert heat. Both teams drove out of camp towards Punmu where new fauna monitoring plots were completed, plants were identified and women burnt country to hunt for parnajarrpa that were in their dens. Burning happened after discussions about the possible hazards such as tourists and mining camps in the area. After the day s work, most women had a well-earned dip in the waterhole to freshen up. That night for dinner Ngamaru Bidu cooked a delicious damper for everyone to share. On the last day the two teams were busy packing up, finishing water surveys, taking group photos and talking about next year and the need to visit each other s communities and spend time working on country together more. Travelling home, the Punmu team passed by the previous day s nyurnma (burnt ground) and were excited to see 17 kipara (bustard) heading in to the burn. Rowena Robinson and Marjorie Nanudie enjoying a cup of tea 9 Eight little kipara

11 Punmu mankarr Gundai burning country As well as the joint trip with the Parnngurr women, the Punmu ladies have been working hard around their community. Country is looking fantastic, with the best wildflower display in years gracing us with colourful displays and bush tucker; the wama (bush tomato) flowers have been especially good. Fresh burnt areas have been key places for completing fauna monitoring plots and giving the women the chance to hunt for parnajarrpa (goanna), lungki (witchetty grub) and even jila (snake) at the same time. One burn east of Punmu showed up a previously unknown mankarr (bilby) site. A night sensor camera has been set up to capture the use of the burrow; it had been used recently by mankarr but more recently by parnajarrpa, as well as a wasp, which was beginning to nest inside. The night camera collected from Mulunyjarra finally caught some video footage of the use of the waterhole. Footage included: a warnapari (dingo) who visited regularly for several days, a walytaki (fox) that made a star appearance one night, and then strangely and suddenly, the camera was staring at the sky, briefly capturing an eagle poking around, and then very little other than birds flying overhead. Jakayu with a jila for dinner Debra and Caro with the sensor camera at a mankarr burrow 10

12 People have been out to special places for the first time, such as Nyakulajikujarra soak, and learnt from the elders about that area. A trip to Wirlurr soak was very special for Nancy and Mulyatingki, who shared their stories from childhood. Wartitina soak is also looking healthy, still holding water from the rangers clean-out. The ladies and the rangers travelled to Parnngurr together for the AGM, camping out at Desert Queen Baths on the way home. Mulyatingki and Nancy dug for kanyjamarra (tubers). The lungki from the gums on the Punmu road gave everyone some tucker to take home. Rosie, Caroline, Nancy, Debra and Roxanne at Nyakulajikujarra Roxanne with Cybertracker Mulyatingki, Jakayu, Rosie and Geraldine at Wartitina soak Wildflowers in last year s nyurnma near Punmu 11

13 Jigalong rangers The first of the warru are off and away to their new home Jigalong ranger team and mankarr team working together August and September were busy months for the Jigalong rangers. In the beginning of August rangers from the Jigalong team went on the Yimiri Kalyuku Ninti trip. The rangers worked during the trip running one of the smaller camps, scouting the route at times and giving a general hand. The rangers had a great time and felt very lucky to be invited to go out to that part of Martu country by Thelma. Shortly after returning from the trip the warru (rock wallaby) translocation project began. The translocation project went for three weeks and the rangers worked alongside DPaWs staff and other scientific consultants. Karlson with a captured warru 12

14 Lindsey Crusoe gives a speech as they release the first warru Warru ready for translocation The project was extremely successful with a total of 26 animals translocated. Lindsey Crusoe, a senior ranger released the first two warru. It was a very special moment for Lindsey and the entire Jigalong ranger team as this project was a vision of the senior Jigalong ranger that passed away early this year. The senior ranger had been involved in the warru project since it began in the 1990 s. Lindsey and Karlson recording information about the warru The translocated warru were fitted with VHF collars or satellite collars and 30 remote cameras were also installed. A trip is scheduled for late October to locate all the collared animals and download the cameras. 13

15 Photo shoot at one of the salt lakes on the Yimiri trip Parnngurr rangers Early August has seen most of the Parnngurr rangers participating in their biggest and longest ranger trip since the team began. With 16 cars and 60 people the group took off to visit places along the Percival Lakes with Yimiri being the highlight. The trip was very long and people were getting tired towards the end but we all stuck together as a team and helped each other out to maintain a happy camp and to make the trip a great success. The team of Greening Australia were in Parnngurr in late August and together with some rangers they have helped to give the shop a facelift by planting around 20 trees in the yard. In late October Greening Australia will be out again with more trees and we will be focusing on getting trees into some of the camps. In early September the Parnngurr rangers went on a trip down to Jilukurru and Kaalpi to meet the Jigalong rangers and to help out with the warru (rock wallaby) relocation. For many of us this was the first time to visit that area and it was great to see what work they were doing there. Thank you for showing us that country. Later on in the month we went to Nyunturru which is a soak we visited during the Windy Corner trip earlier in the year. Our aim was to clean it out. Unfortunately there was quite a big tree growing in the middle of it. We tried to pull and dig it out but were unsuccessful. In the end we made a waru (fire) around the stump so that hopefully when we get there next year we will be able to get rid of it easily. Hayden with his first trapped warru Over the last two months the Parnngurr rangers have also been on several daytrips back to places like Yulpu and to Coopers Hill to visit soaks and rock holes. 14

16 We are slowly approaching the end of the field season and will be focusing on doing some more trips out on country before it gets too hot. The rangers will also participate in community work when they are not out on country. Parnngurr rangers on the trip to Nyunturu Neville and Shannon working on the stump Nyari in action Daytrip to Yulpu 15

17 Punmu rangers The new ranger coordinator Ben and his partner have been warmly welcomed by the Punmu Community and have been an off to a great start for them and together with the Punmu rangers have been doing some really good work. The Punmu ranger team have been visiting water holes and did a great job of cleaning out Jila Jila and the water is now clean. At the claypan It was good for the Ranger team to travel to Parnngurr with the old Punmu women, Princess and Caro for the AGM. The Rangers did a great job at the meeting giving a presentation on our recent trip and also worked well helping out with all the cooking for everyone. The Punmu rangers have been working around the community and jobs included spending a morning cleaning up rubbish around the town as well as gathering firewood for the community, especially for the old people. Cleaning out Jila Jila The team also visited an area of clay pans where the Karlamilyi River flows into a the bottom of Lake Dora. It was a great trip to visit water holes, carry out some burning and look at all the wildlife around the water. Some of the Rangers took some very good bird photos. Getting firewood for old people back in community Rangers becoming great photographers Punmu rangers with Jethro See 16

18 Your Communities Histories Over the last year, KJ has been translating oral history stories collected in 1987 by a whitefella, Tom Baxter. Tom interviewed the following people: Peter Goodigee, Charlie Nunjan, Alex Rodgers, Blind Billy, Wombat Williams, David Downs, Emily Forrest, Georgie Short, Jimmy James Wirralee, Edgar Pike, Moora George and Wyla Jindabee. He travelled down the Canning Stock Route in a truck with many of them. The tapes of these stories had been put into the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies many years ago but the Institute has not been able to copy the stories for the Martu. Two years ago, Davenport got in touch with Tom Baxter himself who told her that there was also a copy of the stories in the Kimberley Language Resource Centre in Halls Creek. The Kimberley Language Resource Centre was very happy to work with KJ and sent the cassette tapes to Newman to be copied and digitised so that Martu could listen to them. KJ applied for a grant from the federal government in Canberra to pay linguists to translate the stories. Ken Hansen started the translation of these stories in 2012 and then Ken and Tom Lawford from the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre finalised at least half the stories in Fitzroy Crossing earlier this year. These stories will all be put onto the Martu Community Access Library (CAL) which is in each Martu Community, so everybody can hear their relatives stories and voices. Thank you to the Gillard government s Your Community Heritage Program, run by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, for providing this funding. Creative Partnership Awards KJ, in partnership with Martumili Artists, Fremantle Arts Centre and BHP Billiton Iron Ore were the winners of the WA Creative Partnerships Partnering Award for the major exhibition. Last year in November rangers, mankarr workers, Martumili artists and KJ and Martumili staff travelled to Fremantle Arts Centre for the exhibition We don t need a map: a Martu experience of the Western Desert. The rangers and mankarr workers presented talks about the work they do out on country and the artists spoke about their paintings. The exhibition was a great success. Over 23,000 people went to see the exhibition which ran at the Fremantle Arts Centre for two months. Last month this partnership between KJ, Martumili Artists, Fremantle Arts Centre and BHP Billiton Iron Ore was recognised as the winner of the WA Creative Partnerships Partnering Award for a major exhibition. The Creative Partnership Australia Awards celebrate best practice in strategic partnerships between the business, philanthropic and cultural sectors. Representatives from KJ, Martumili Artists, BHP Billiton Iron Ore and Fremantle Arts centre will attend the Creative Partnerships Australia national dinner to be held at Parliament House in Canberra in November where the national finalists will be announced. Good luck everyone. 17

19 Cultural Awareness Cultural Awareness is provided by KJ to numerous organisations that work with Martu. One day courses are held in Newman and are facilitated by Martu presenters. The course is designed to expand thinking and understanding about Martu, their language, history, kinship and contemporary issues they face. The program aims to facilitate understanding between participants and the Martu community. Half day and full day specialised courses are available for interested organisations. Specific areas include health, education and cross cultural communication. Over 4000 people have attended Cultural Awareness courses since 2009 and consistently excellent reviews are received. I thought your presentation of this program was excellent. And I would highly recommend the program to anyone who works with or lives in Martu country to attend this program. I came away from this course with a better understanding and valuable insights into the Martu culture. I am very keen to follow up yesterday s program and gain more knowledge in this area. Just wanted to say a big thank you for the fantastic day yesterday. It is undoubtedly one of the best cultural awareness programs that I have attended and your delivery was nothing short of excellent. It is something that I believe strongly should be done as part of a person s initial orientation package when they come and work in the Pilbara, whether they end up working with the Martu or not. Positive view of relationship between Martu and whitefellas. Positive and fair view of history of settlement. I learnt a lot of new things. If you are interested in attending a Cultural Awareness course or organising a course for your organisation please contact Nakita at the KJ office on or nakita.bakker@ kj.org.au Opened my eyes to the Martu community and their family structure. Created an interest in learning more. Very well presented session. I appreciated being a part of it. 18

20 Community Access Library The roll-out of the Community Access Library (CAL) continued throughout August and September. Computers were placed in Parnngurr, Jigalong and Bidyadanga with visits to Punmu, Warralong and Nullagine to see how things were going. The computer was placed in Parnngurr at the community office. Lots of people came to look at the archive and some printed out photos. People liked looking at photos of their families and the ranger and mankarr team trips from Parnngurr. Some people also helped identify people and places in photos which is a great help as there are many photos to be tagged. The computer was placed in Bidyadanga in the library section of the Community Resource Centre. Thanks to Boris Billycan who helped set it up and brought Martu in to look at the archive. People liked looking at photos of family and old photos from the 1960s and 1970s. Lots of photos were printed out and the printer has been left there for people to use. In Jigalong the computer was placed in the ranger office and Jamo can show anyone who is interested in seeing all the old and new photos. Children and adults in Parnngurr looking at photos from mankarr trips over the last few years In Bidyadanga looking at photos in the old collection The computer in Warralong is doing really well, with reports that lots of people have been using it. Thanks to the teachers who came in with their kids to see how the archive works! Punmu was also visited to see how CAL was going. Everyone seems to still enjoy using the program and some Martu helped in identifying people in photos and printing some family photos. Corinna in Bidyadanga with some of the photos she printed out It is good to see lots of people using the archive and if anyone has any questions or problems please see Cat when she next comes out to visit your community. 19 Rachel Handley with one of her photo prints from the archive

21 Board Meetings The directors had a regular board meeting in August and a special meeting in September to approve KJ s audited accounts. The August meeting was in Newman. It was very well-attended, with all the communities represented. The directors heard full reports from the KJ managers and then discussed a range of important issues. These included: Increasing the size of the Jigalong ranger team, to give more jobs to Jigalong men; Starting the first ranger team in Kunawarritji; Starting the first women s ranger team; Getting the leadership program properly funded; Approval of 31 new members of KJ, from Bidyadanga, Jigalong, Kunawarritji, Parnngurr, Punmu, Newman and Perth; Preparations for the KJ AGM; The Board Charter, which sets out the Board s standards of conduct for directors. The Board also reviewed what KJ had done in the 2012/13 financial year against the Board s priorities in the KJ Strategic Plan. Like all Board meeting, there was a lot to talk about, and the Board worked very hard to get through all of the business. Some of the leadership group also attended, to see how the KJ Board works. At the September meeting, held in Punmu, the Board went through all the details of KJ s annual audited financial statement. It was very hard work, but there were a lot of good questions and a lot of good talk. Once again, some of the leadership group attended because they want to learn about how company finances work. This shows how serious all of the Board and the leadership group are about learning to be responsible directors. This was a very good meeting even though it was difficult the best Board meeting for financial reports that KJ has had. KJ s Board of Directors for 2012/13 has always worked very hard but happily and strong together. It is a board that Martu can be proud of. KJ Board signing the Board Charter 20

22 What s coming up: October 4 Cultural Awareness Newman 7 18 Punmu mankarr Parnngurr mankarr Groote Eylandt visit Cultural Awareness Newman Greening Australia Parnngurr 29 Cultural Awareness Newman November 4-5 Cultural Awareness Newman 11 Cultural Awareness Newman Cultural Awareness Newman 21

23 Funders, partners and supporters 22