Over the last 12 months – and to coincide with the UN International Year of Indigenous Languages – the ALA has been working with knowledge holders from the Kamilaroi nation (north eastern NSW and south eastern Queensland), researchers at CSIRO Land & Water and environmental consultant  Michelle McKemey from Melaleuca Enterprises to map 683 Indigenous plant and animal names (in three related Kamilaroi languages: Kamilaroi/Gamilaroi/Gamilaraay (alternate spellings of one language), Yuwaalayaay and Yuwaalaraay) to Latin species names in the ALA.  

Names

Names are the building blocks of the Atlas of Living Australia. The lists, hierarchies, and taxonomy (names and classification) of species information, and in particular the names list, form the foundation of our database. Western biological science is built on a naming system that assigns one unique name for each species, this is a Latin scientific name e.g. Osphranter rufus (Red Kangaroo). These Latin names are used throughout the global scientific community and are the basis of a common language for Western science.

Indigenous names for plants and animals are often built around their purpose and/or their relationship to other plants and animals. Names are a part of a greater story that carries the knowledge of the plant or animal – for example, what it is, what it is used for, when it is used, who can use it and what it is related to.

In Western science knowledge systems, our scientific names are unique, one name for one organism. In Indigenous knowledge systems, one organism can have many names, one for male or female, young or old, fruiting or flowering. The taxonomy or grouping of organisms is also quite different – Western science tends to group organisms based on their structure while Indigenous knowledge may group on their purpose or relationships to others. Here lies a challenge to bring these two knowledge systems together.

Indigenous ecological knowledge

Indigenous ecological knowledge is based on thousands of years of knowledge about our plants, animals and environment. It is a rich and nuanced understanding of local and regional ecosystems and environments. This knowledge has been passed down through thousands of generations by the knowledge custodians through narration, demonstration and life experience, and is now also shared through books, websites, social media and apps. Where this knowledge can be more widely shared, it provides opportunities to extend and validate Western scientific knowledge.

While there has been great ongoing interest in Indigenous ecological knowledge in relation to bush tucker and bush medicines, understanding Indigenous land management practices extends our ability to work within and live in our diverse environments. Less obviously, IEK also provides ecologists and researchers interested in climate change, information on the past and current state of our environment, for example, flowering times, fruiting times, migration patterns and changes to these events over time. This information can be used to enhance Western science observations and thinking.

This extension and comparison of knowledge can only be done if we know we are talking about the same things. This means names are essential to link Indigenous knowledge to Western science knowledge.  

The Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Names Project (IEK Names Project)

This project is an integral part of the Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Program (IEK), whose primary aim is to promote Indigenous ecological knowledge. The IEK Names Project does this by including  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names for plants and animals in the ALA’s systems – to link Indigenous ecological knowledge with the ALA’s significant holdings of occurrence data, images and other information for these species.

The initial phase of this project was also something of a pathfinder for the ALA to understand how to ethically and respectfully engage with Indigenous people and communities, to build a technical solution for incorporating IEK knowledge into the ALA’s systems. This involved ensuring the ALA worked with Indigenous language custodians, who in turn ensured the community agreed to the knowledge being published on the internet. Within the ALA the Indigenous knowledge is attributed to the community and showcased alongside Western scientific knowledge, while also linking to other publicly accessible authority sources, such as AIATSIS language codes.

The work is a collaboration between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the ALA and CSIRO Land and Water. This first phase was specifically with the Kamilaroi nation and worked with the language custodians: Harry White, Rhonda Ashby, Bernadette Duncan and Ted Fields Jnr.

This collaboration resulted in the three Kamilaroi languages (Kamilaroi/Gamilaroi/Gamilarray, Yugaalaraay and Yugaal) being the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages included in the ALA.  

Challenges

On the surface, it sounds relatively simple to map language names against Latin names however there were many challenges along the way.

Often there is not a direct one-to-one relationship between an Aboriginal language name and a Latin name. Kamilaroi people sometimes have more than one word for a species, and unique names for different parts of an organism. In addition, one community can speak more than one language, so it’s possible for one species to have several names, across numerous languages, within one community.

The Kamilaroi nation is the first to have its languages included in the ALA. The four language custodians: Harry White, Bernadette Duncan, Rhonda Ashby and Ted Fields Jnr worked with an environmental consultant Michelle McKemey to collect and check a set of 683 names for 304 unique species. This included photos of some of the plants and animals with recordings of how some of these names are pronounced.   

The other big challenge involved permissions and ownership. In this digital age, where information is open and shared across multiple platforms, it is much harder to define the audience, the reach and the longevity of the information and therefore much harder to pin down the parameters of permissions and copyright. Providing permissions for sharing information for the purposes of one research article or book, is far more straight forward than providing permission for the information to be freely accessed online, across multiple platforms and different formats, for an ongoing or indefinite period.

“Discussions around permission and copyright of Indigenous knowledge are complicated and really important to get right. The Aboriginal people we are working with want to control what information is shared, how it is shared and how it is made public.”

“Together with the four Kamilaroi language custodians (Harry, Rhonda, Bernadette and Ted Jnr), we’ve worked through important considerations such as permission and approval to publish these words, raising awareness of the project within the community, the longevity of the project, and potential misuse or misinterpretation of information,” said Nat.

Project impact: 683 Kamilaroi names and rising

There are now 304 species in the ALA with Kamilaroi names. Names are from the Yuwaalayaay, Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay / Gamilaroi / Kamilaroi languages. This set of names includes native plants, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, birds and some introduced species.

“It is significant that we’ve been able to link Indigenous and Latin names in the ALA. We’ve laid the first building blocks for further work to allow information and knowledge to be shared and extended across both Indigenous and Western ecological knowledge systems,” Nat said.

Having worked through the technical issues of mapping the names as well as issues around licencing and ownership, more names and more languages can now be added. Not all Indigenous communities are the same, this includes the governance structures around knowledge and knowledge sharing. So, while the ALA has successfully integrated one group of Indigenous languages, and this does lead the way for others to follow suit, there are still many challenges with the many hundreds of other languages to be included.

“The inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in the ALA means the ALA is a more complete database of our Australian ecological knowledge, it introduces the ALA to more Indigenous people across Australia who are using it in schools and for ecological management and it shows the depth of Indigenous ecological knowledge to all ALA users. In all of these ways, we are achieving our goal of promoting Indigenous ecological knowledge,” said Nat.

Next steps: more languages and more communities

Our next steps are about getting more languages and communities involved in the ALA.

In September, we presented at PULiiMA, the Indigenous Language and Technology conference, with Bernadette Duncan and Rhonda Ashby. These Kamilaroi language custodians are both highly regarded across Australia for their long years and persistence in language work. This collaboration at PULiiMA led us to meet many Indigenous people who are interested in working with us to increase the number of languages included in the ALA.

We have also formed a strong working relationship with First Languages Australia, an umbrella organisation that helps facilitate links between government and research organisations and Indigenous community language custodians and workers.

The ALA is also working with Linda Broadhurst from the Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR) who is working to map Indigenous names to species in our national Herbarium collection. Linda is working closely with the ALA and First Languages Australia to find a solid and respectful path to collaborate with  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to include Indigenous names for plants in the national herbarium, the ALA, and science and technology in general.  

Central to Linda’s project is the requirement for both a language custodian/speaker/knowledge holder and a scientist/ecologist/biologist to be working together in the field to avoid misinterpretation and misinformation.

This project aims to map Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names to Latin names for large numbers of the plant species held in the national herbarium, and ensure this information can be published and shared across multiple systems, including the ALA.

ALA’s Indigenous Ecological Knowledge program’s other projects

Over the last five years, the ALA has been working with Indigenous communities and knowledge brokers to improve the relevance of the ALA website and software for Indigenous people.

Some of the improvements include:

• Addition of specific spatial layers to the ALA’s mapping and analysis tools, including 2016 Indigenous Protected Areas, Indigenous Land Use Agreement areas, Representative Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Body areas.
• Creation of IEK Profiles to store and share Indigenous ecological knowledge about plants and animals. Currently IEK Profiles from two communities – Yugul Mangi Rangers in South East Arnhem Land and Olkola from North Queensland, have IEK Profile collections underway. 
• Changes to the Species Profiles app to improve multi-media uploads and useability.
• A new multi-lingual app – The Tracks App – developed with the Central Land Council to help rangers track animals. Languages include Warlpiri and English, with opportunity to add more languages.

For more information, read about ALA’s Indigenous Ecological Knowledge program.

Since colonisation, the coerced centralisation of Aboriginal groups meant that many Aboriginal people were disconnected from their Country. Across Australia there are concerted efforts by Indigenous communities to get back and reconnect to Country. Many things have changed over the last 200 plus years such as native species decline, invasion of new species and changed fire regimes. Our cross-cultural Citizen Science project aims to learn about these changes using Western and Indigenous techniques and include Rangers, Elders and young people to inform current and future land management decision-making.

In September 2018, the Yugul Mangi Rangers of south east Arnhem land and Macquarie University scientists planned a cross-cultural fauna survey for the Wilton River Range, approximately 20 minutes drive from Ngukurr Aboriginal community. This area was chosen as it holds special cultural value to local people. Additionally, Elders recalled the presence of many native mammal species here in the past, such as the critically endangered Northern Quoll and various rodent species, which have not been seen in recent times.

As part of the trip, the survey team partnered with Ngukurr School and took 33 students on the survey with the hope of finding some interesting animal species and teaching students about the value of cross-cultural research. The Year 7 and Year 8-9 classes assisted rangers on the second day of the survey to check, rebait and set animal traps and do a spotlighting survey. Additionally, the senior boys class participated in an overnight trip and assisted with trap checking and maintenance, a spotlighting survey, Indigenous traditional animal surveys (including active searches and fishing surveys) and finally helped pack up the survey sites on the final day.

These activities were led by Yugul Mangi Rangers Clayton Munur, Gene Daniels, Patrick Daniels and Cedrick Robertson. The rangers taught the students about: the use of both western and Indigenous animal trapping techniques; the use of technology for data collection (survey app and tablet); and modern threats to local fauna, such as the Cane Toad (Rhinella marina).

Overall, the survey team recorded 57 fauna species throughout the survey period. Interesting species included the Orange-naped Snake (Furina ornata), Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps), Delicate Mouse (Pseudomys delicatulus), Spiny-tailed Gecko (Strophurus ciliaris) and Metallic Snake-eyed Skink (Cryptoblepharus metallicus).

The team also made some valuable cultural knowledge recordings, as we were lucky enough to have local Urapunga Elder, Dennis Duncan, joining us to speak to the students about the history of the survey area. The location surveyed was Dennis’s country where he grew up with his family, and also holds great cultural significance as a men’s ceremonial area. However, with the building of the Roper Highway, which runs through this country, these ceremonies have been forced to relocate to a different area.

The outcomes of this survey, both social and ecological, demonstrate the value of a cross-cultural approach to citizen science in remote communities. Collaboration with schools and other youth groups provides rangers and community Elders with a platform for the intergenerational transfer of cultural knowledge and the engagement of youth in on-country conservation.

Special thanks to the Ngukurr and Urapunga communities, and particularly Urapunga Elder Dennis Duncan for sharing a small part of his local knowledge and hosting the Yugul Mangi Rangers and Macquarie University staff on his country.

In June 2018, Yirralka Senior Ranger Banul Munyarryun, a respected cultural leader of north east Arnhem Land’s Dhalinybuy community, welcomed Macquarie University staff and other Yolŋu (NE Arnhem Aboriginal people) onto his country. This was the second collaborative, cross-cultural biodiversity survey conducted in the Laynhapuy IPA under the Australian Government Citizen Science program (Citizen science project builds on award winning cross-cultural collaboration in eastern Arnhem Land) in partnership with the Atlas of Living Australia. The project aims to fill gaps in biodiversity knowledge of remote Arnhem Land by combining western science and technologies with local Aboriginal people’s complex understanding of their country. Through the surveys we are particularly targeting small mammal species, such as native rodents and dasyurids, that have been decimated across northern Australia by feral animal invasion and altered fire regimes.

The survey team was introduced to the survey location, Nyiknyikpuy, by Banul. In Yolŋu Matha, a simple translation of Nyiknyikpuy is ‘place of small rodents’. Banul explained that his clan group, the Wangurri, hold many cultural stories of this country. These traditional stories hold important information, and as they are passed through generations, they carry knowledge of the effective ecological and spiritual management of country.

One such story is of the nyiknyik (general Yolŋu term for native rodents), held by Wangurri, which is part of a songline that runs through Nyiknyikpuy and surrounding country. It explains the behaviours of rodents after the country is burnt by local people, as told by Banul:

“The nyiknyik is a totem for Wangurri… When we burn fire this is by song, Wangurri songline. If they have big fire… the middle of dry season… it burns trees and grass, and the nyiknyik runs back to where there is water. After the fire the nyiknyik… he comes out and he dance and feed on burning grasshopper and seed and then he dance again, so that’s what nyiknyik is all about, story of the songline for Wangurri.”

Banul then goes on to explain the local seasonal migration of the nyiknyik as part of this story.

“Nyiknyiks always are next to the water, where he drinks the water and runs away from the dangers, like snakes or wildcats. They come up to the rocky area on big wet, when rain falls… and when the rain settles down, they walk back to where the floodplains are, where the wet area is. That’s where nyiknyiks usually live.”

This knowledge adds to the greater understanding of the ecology and behaviour of native rodents in the region. Not only does it tell us ideal areas to target for surveys, depending on the time of year, but also suggests approaches to the treatment of sites prior to sampling. On the advice of Banul, and in line with this local knowledge, the survey team decided to burn the floodplain sampling site immediately prior to the survey. We chose this site as, according to Wangurri, the nyiknyik will retreat to the nearby water for safety during the fire, and afterwards will come out to feed. We avoided burning the bordering country to allow animals to easily seek refuge.

During the four-night survey, the team used animal traps, opportunistic recording, local hunting techniques and active searches to record the fauna in the area. This is a modified Northern Territory Government fauna survey method, adjusted to suit our cross-cultural and inclusive project design. We also recorded Aboriginal knowledge of local plants and animals, their uses and distributions, as well as stories of the surrounding country such as the nyiknyik story told by Banul.

Unfortunately, we did not find any native rodents during the survey period. Although, this was not unexpected for Banul, as he explained prior to the survey:

“In this country… there is nyiknyik around here but they don’t want to trap, they know. They know someone is going to trap me, I’ll hide from them.”

Banul’s suggestion that these native small mammals are too intelligent and/or cautious to enter traps supports the survey team’s previous experiences, with nyiknyik often being caught later in the survey period, predominantly on the third or fourth nights. This may be after they have time to get used to the traps in their environment and therefore become less suspicious.

Ineffective trapping methods or equipment could have also been a potential reason for the lack of nyiknyik trapped; however, we did catch an invasive House Mouse (Mus musculus) in an Elliot trap, suggesting that our trapping is effective for small mammals. This raised further questions about the presence and perhaps control of invasive mice in this area which is very remote and approximately 13 kilometres from the nearest community.

The Nyiknyikpuy survey detected 60 species, including  36 bird species, 10 reptile species, 6 amphibian species, 3 fish species and 5 mammal species. These included the Black-necked Stork (near threatened – Aust), Australian Bustard (vulnerable – NT) and Northern Snake-necked Turtle (near threatened – Aust). We recorded a large number of native Agile Wallabies (27), and did not observe any invasive water buffalo which is unusual for the Top End, although pigs were present.

The results of the Nyiknyikpuy biodiversity survey demonstrate the value of cross-cultural approaches in ecological science. The cultural knowledge shared by local people gives invaluable information on survey methods and biodiversity trends in these remote homelands, providing insights that we could not have obtained without this collaborative approach. With the continuation of this project we hope to further enhance our understanding of biodiversity, especially small mammals, in remote Arnhem Land to inform land management decisions for the betterment of the country and its people.

Special thanks to the Gidilpawuy Munyarryun and Dhalinybuy community for sharing a small part of their local knowledge, and for hosting the Yirralka Rangers and Macquarie University staff on their country.

All the materials in the Living Archive collection have been digitised and saved as PDFs, and have undergone optical character recognition (OCR) to create a separate text file. This OCR process is often challenging, with the software not always coping well with some materials, such as pages that were handwritten, faded, of poor quality printing, or with text overlapping with images. It also had difficulty handling special characters used in Australian Indigenous languages, such as ŋ, ḏ and ä. 

In most cases, we manually edited the OCRed text, but there were several items that were just too hard. So we were delighted to hear about the Australian Museum’s crowdsourcing website DigiVol. The staff at the Australian Museum have been incredibly helpful at assisting us in setting up our institution and first expeditions, and assuring us that their volunteers would be interested in our materials, despite the texts not being related to natural history.

We’ve set up a range of expeditions in a few different Indigenous languages, with materials including scientific information in Yolngu languages, an eyewitness story of a massacre in Gurindji, a book about what animals are good to eat in Pintupi, stories written by children about monsters in Tiwi, and lots of literacy primers used for teaching Indigenous children to read and write in their first language,in Anindilyakwa, Warlpiri and Gurindji.

Feedback from volunteers has been positive, with some appreciating a change from working on natural history materials. I’m starting to get to know the “regulars” as I share information about the expeditions with them, and I’m amazed by their diligence, commitment and eye for detail. Some volunteers share stories of their own connection with Indigenous languages, with one volunteer who had previously worked in an Indigenous community thanking us for the “opportunity to repay the debt that I owe Aboriginal people for the extraordinary experiences that they brought into my life.”

Thanks to the Australian Museum and the Atlas of Living Australia for this wonderful service. The DigiVol volunteers have been a wonderful asset to our project, and we look forward to creating new and interesting expeditions to work on. We’ve also shared with others working on Indigenous languages who are keen to take advantage of such an opportunity, so you might even see more language expeditions coming up. 

For more information, please contact me.

As the 2017-2018 wet season drew to a close, Macquarie Univeristy ecologists travelled to the communities of Numbulwar and Yirrkala, and with the local Numbirindi and Yirralka Rangers and Traditional Owners, began the first surveys of this two-year project. This project involves cross-cultural assessment of the biodiversity of remote eastern Arnhem Land. It continues on from a previous joint survey run by the Yugul Mangi, Yirralka and Numbirindi Rangers and Macquarie University which was highlighted in a past ALA blog Sharing Indigenous women’s knowledge of biodiversity and culture across tribal boundaries in Arnhem Land. It also builds on the Ngukurr team’s success as the 2017 Eureka Prize winner for Innovation in Citizen Science.

Our surveys combine western science and technologies with the intricate local Indigenous knowledge of country.  They also involve community participation through every aspect of the project, including planning, data collection, data analysis, recording data with the ALA and the communication of project outcomes.

Surveys sites and trapping techniques

The first surveys during April and May involved 26 community members and rangers. The first survey was conducted at the remote rocky area of Willawuy in the Laynhapuy IPA with the Yirralka Rangers. Following this survey, Macquarie University ecologist Ben Kitchener joined the Numbirindi Rangers and conducted a survey at Garrayrin, along the banks of Walker River in the South-East Arnhem Land IPA (see map and images above). These locations were seen as potential refuges for fauna, especially small mammals, that in recent years have declined in numbers due to invasive species such as cats and Cane Toads.

Data collection involved animal trapping using a variety of traps and survey techniques following a modified Northern Territory government standard survey design. We used cage, Elliot, pitfall, funnel and motion-sensor camera traps, along with bird and fish surveys, spotlighting and opportunistic sightings and collections. The survey team also recorded Indigenous knowledge of local plants and animals, including their uses and distributions, as well as stories of the surrounding country.

Results: some great finds and fewer pests than expected

These surveys produced some great finds. Although no small mammals were detected at the first survey at Willawuy, there was a variety of reptile and bird species, and very few pests – only three Cane Toads! There was no evidence of pigs or buffalo at all, which is rare for the Top End. We found fewer species at Garrayrin, but excitingly we did find a Grassland Melomys (Melomys burtoni), locally known as Lhudiny, and a Black-headed Monitor (Varanus tristis). The presence of such Monitors is important, particularly as larger Monitors have declined so dramatically with the spread of Cane Toads.

The Willawuy trip saw the introduction of genetic analyses through tissue sample collection from captured animals, with Macquarie’s Ben Kitchener guiding rangers through the process. This will provide the survey team with greater information on regional variation and connectedness within species of eastern Arnhem Land, as well as potentially, the detection of new species.

Next steps for Arnhem Land citizen science survey project

The Willawuy survey also provided an opportunity for the Yirralka Rangers to develop a survey video to be used as an education resource. This documented the trip and all survey and cultural activities conducted. The video will give school children and the wider community an exciting look into some of the work rangers do, as well as the value of cross-cultural interactions between external organisations and remote communities.

These survey trips were deemed a great success and a valuable learning experience for all involved with scientific and Indigenous knowledge shared – a perfect way to kick off the two-year Citizen Science Grant project. With the continuation of this project we hope to broaden our understanding of these remote areas, inform local land management and promote the benefits of combining scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems.

For more information about this project, please contact Emilie Ens (emilie.ens@mq.edu.au) .

For more information about the ALA’s Indigenous Ecological Knowledge program, please contact Nat Raisbeck-Brown (Nat.Raisbeck-Brown@csiro.au) or follow these links:

• ALA’s Indigenous Ecological Knowledge program
• ALA blogs on Indigenous Ecological Knowledge topics 

The new platform aims to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous biodiversity knowledge in the one place to afford recognition to the unique and extensive Indigenous-held biodiversity knowledge that exists across Australia.

IEK is current employed by Indigenous land and sea managers to manage Australia’s biodiversity, although this is not well known. It is intended that the new knowledge platform will provide an avenue through which we can more accurately assess where there are gaps in our combined knowledge systems, as well as increase understanding of the contribution that IEK can and does make to the management of Australia’s biodiversity.

To celebrate the theme for this year’s NAIDOC week – Because of Her, We Can! – we have included three stories that highlight the IEK work undertaken in the ALA, and which have Indigenous women as the driving force.

Cherry Daniels, cultural adviser for the east Arnhem Land work 

Cherry Wulumirr Daniels OAM, other Elders, Rangers and young people of the SE Arnhem Land and Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected Areas in eastern Arnhem Land are working with Emilie Ens and Ben Kitchener, ecologists from Macquarie University, to document species and share traditional Aboriginal names and stories of plants and animals with other Australians.

Under Cherry’s guidance, Ngukurr community from SE Arnhem Land have been working on a cross-cultural field guide of 275 plant and animal species that includes Western and local Indigenous scientific knowledge. They are currently transforming this book into an online version through a private webpage of the ALA that can be used by community members and the local schools to learn more about local species, cultural knowledge and threats. The team is also providing a two-way Indigenous engagement case study to encourage more Indigenous content and, importantly, feedback loops to make the ALA more relevant and useful for Indigenous people.

Cherry has guided this project and its evolution over 10 years. Cherry is a 73 year old Ngandi woman who lives in Ngukurr community in the NT. She works tirelessly to inspire all people, especially young people and women in her community, to care for their country, culture and languages. Her strong knowledge of how the land was prior to recent threats from invasive species, wildfire and climate change, combined with her rare cultural knowledge make her a treasure of not only her community but all of Australia, as recognised by an OAM in 2016. As part of her work, she has mentored many other Aboriginal women to fill her large shoes, including women from the Yugul Mangi Rangers, Julie Roy, Edna Nelson and Maritza Roberts, as well as young people from the Ngukurr Yangabla (Young People) Project, including Karis Robertson, Sandra Blitner and Melissa Wurramarrba. Melissa was a finalist in the NT Young Achievers Awards 2018 and is currently studying at Macquarie University in Sydney, alongside Cherry’s grandson Ernest Junya Daniels.  

For more information on Cherry read Way of the water lilies: Where science meets the billabong

Development of the seasonal calendar platform

Emma Woodward (CSIRO/ALA) is working with traditional owners from three regions of Australia to develop and test an interactive seasonal calendar platform. Indigenous women are driving each of these research engagements.  

The Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation Women’s Group, with guiding support from Cecilia Cox and Tammy Cox, are working to develop a seasonal wheel for their region. The content of the seasonal wheel includes detailed local understanding of seasons, their influence on, and relationship to biodiversity and biodiversity management. Traditional owners from Oak Valley, Yalata, Scotdesco, Koonibba and Ceduna in South Australia are all contributing to its development. The fieldwork and process of knowledge collation is in turn informing the development of the digital seasonal calendar platform, and will be one of the first calendars uploaded into the platform. The ALA is also working with Martu Elders through the Wiluna Remote Community School, supported by the CSIRO Science Pathways program, and with Gulumoerrgin (Larrakia) traditional owners from the Darwin region, Northern Territory.

The development of the digital seasonal calendar platform has been informed by previous work driven by Gulumoerrgin (Larrakia) traditional owner Lorraine Williams. You can view the interactive online seasonal calendar here: http://www.larrakia.csiro.au/#/calendar/dinidjanggama

Josephine Grant, ranger coordinator from the Central Land Council, and adviser on The Tracks App project

The Tracks App is a data collection system designed to be used by Aboriginal rangers to record animal signs, such as tracks, scats, diggings and burrows, identified using traditional tracking techniques.

Funded by the Australian Government, the Tracks App was designed by Central Land Council staff and developed with the ALA as part of the Bilby Blitz program. The Bilby Blitz aimed to survey the Greater Bilby across Aboriginal managed land across the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

As coordinator of the Anmatyerr Ranger group and expert tracker in her own right, Josephine Grant provided significant input into the app’s development. She has since used it in the field to record bilby signs and with school students to increase their understanding and awareness of tracking work.

A major aim of the Tracks App was to make it available in Aboriginal languages as English is often a second, third or fourth language for Aboriginal people. In March 2018 the CLC launched English and Warlpiri language versions of the app. Josephine has been working with Gladys Brown, lead ranger from the Muru-Warinyi Ankkul Ranger Group in Tennant Creek, on translating it into the Waramungu language.

The ALA are also working with a number of different communities across Australia including Ngukurr and Laynhapuy Homelands communities in eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory (NT), the Olkola People of Cape York, Banbai nation people in northern New South Wales, nine regions represented by the Central Land Council in the southern half of the Northern Territory, and the Larrakia people in the Darwin region of the Northern Territory.

For more information about this year’s NAIDOC week that was from the 8-15th of July, visit NAIDOC Week 2018 https://www.naidoc.org.au/get-involved/2018-theme

The Tracks App was funded by the Australian government and developed as a collaboration between the CLC and the ALA. The Tracks App enables data such as animal tracks, scats, diggings and burrows to be recorded in the field and stored and analysed in the ALA.

“Our Warlpiri rangers love the app,” said ranger co-ordinator Josie Grant from the Central Land Council.

“The rest of us use the English version and can’t wait until we can have it in our first languages as well,” said Ms Grant who grew up in the Tennant Creek region and speaks Warlmanpa and Warrumungu.

The app hosted and maintained by the ALA, collects the rangers’ tracking data in a standardised way, allowing the results to be analysed across time and sites and to be compared with future surveys. This will enable land managers and conservationists to detect local changes in biodiversity, as well as monitor broader impacts of feral species and climate change across Australia’s desert regions.

The first use of the new app will be a Bilby Blitz focusing on cross border surveys of the endangered Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis). Twenty ranger groups from the Northern Territory and Western Australia are combining their local knowledge and tracking skills with digital technology to conduct hundreds of base line bilby surveys by recording tracks, scats, diggings and burrows on Aboriginal land during March and April.

The data recorded through The Tracks App will update and expand existing knowledge about bilby distribution and inform the national bilby recovery plan – the first national threatened species plan developed with significant input from Aboriginal people.

“The Bilby Blitz is a ground breaking threatened species program for a culturally significant animal, a two-way ecological case study that demonstrates the critical role Aboriginal people play in protecting our country,” said CLC director David Ross.

The ALA is made possible by contributions from its many partners. It receives support from the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and is hosted by CSIRO.

For more information, visit The Tracks App on ALA’s BioCollect page.

For more images of The Tracks App launch visit https://photos.app.goo.gl/v6q50Vn6fYsDkv3y2

Over the last couple of years the ALA has been working with the Yugul Mangi Rangers and Macquarie University ecologists to build cross-cultural biodiversity knowledge of SE Arnhem Land. Additionally the collaboration has helped develop Indigenous content in the ALA website and raise awareness nationally, about Indigenous science and biodiversity management. The team has just published a paper called “Putting Indigenous Conservation Policy into practice delivers biodiversity and cultural benefits“.

In July 2016, the team held a regional woman’s biodiversity and cultural knowledge sharing workshop at Ngilipitji in eastern Arnhem Land. Thirty five women attended from the three ranger groups in the region (Yugul Mangi Rangers from Ngukurr, Yirralka Rangers from Yirrkala and Numbirindi Rangers from Numbulwar) as well as the Ngukurr Yangbala (Young) Rangers. Ngilipitji was chosen as a mid-way point for the groups and because it lies close to the border of the Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected Area (managed by the Yirralka Rangers) and the proposed SE Arnhem Land Indigenous Protected Area (managed by the Yugul Mangi and Numbirindi Rangers under the Northern Land Council) and is considered a “shared management” zone.

Cultural knowledge sharing workshops were held in Ngilipitji, Arnhem Land.

The team conducted biodiversity surveys over three days and nights in an area that according to ALA data, had not been surveyed in the past. We set up 70 Elliot, 15 Cage, 6 Pitfall, 15 Funnel and 12 camera traps over three sites (Rocky hill, Bottom spring, Top spring) to detect mammals and reptiles. We conducted one night search around the outstation for geckoes, did plenty of fishing and made opportunistic sightings of species. Despite the remoteness of this Country, surprisingly we only found 4 skinks (Carlia munda, Cryptoblepharus metallicus), 5 geckoes (Gehyra australis, Heteronotia binoei), 2 water rats (Hydromys chrysogaster), 2 dingoes (Canis lupus dingo), 3 crows (Corvus orru), 8 Black Bream (Hephaestus fluiginosus) and freshwater crocodile’s (Crocodylus johnsoni) eyes shining at night in the creek. One feral cat, 2 cane toads and evidence of feral buffalo and pig were also seen. We found no frogs, small mammals, large reptiles or turtles. The lack of animal sightings was suggested as due to the weather being cold and at times windy and raining. However the presence of feral animals and possibility of past damaging late dry season wild fires were also discussed as possible causes.

At each site we did plant collections, pressed specimens and are still processing and identifying the species. However about 50 species were recorded, all were commonly known. Some lively knowledge exchange occurred around the plant species. The common medicinal plant Eucalyptus tetrodonta was called bambuja by the SE Arnhem mob and gadayka by the NE Arnhem ladies. All grasses were called wiji in Marra, mulmu in Yolngu matha and notho in Ngandi languages. The large Acacias (Acacia auriculiformis and A. aulacocarpa) were described as dukul in Ngandi, Ritharrngu and Ngalakan (SE Arnhem languages) and dhurrtji in Yolngu matha (NE Arnhem). Despite being relatively close in proximity, there were clear differences in language words for plants between SE and NE Arnhem Land.

In addition to exchange of language names and uses knowledge, senior Ngandi woman Cherry Wulumirr Daniels also facilitated cultural leadership and kinship discussions throughout the camp with her usual passion and command of everyone’s attention. On the last night, the Yirralka Rangers shared with everyone a cultural song and dance (manikay) about Ngilipitji that was recorded by their family members. They also taught the group a range of other songs and dances that often had environmental themes. This was followed by cultural performances and lessons from the Numbirindi Rangers and Ngukurr mob.

After the camp the Yirralka Rangers came to Ngukurr, many for the first time, and participated in an ALA workshop led by Rebecca Pirzl with input from Julie Roy, Yugul Mangi senior woman ranger. We downloaded the camera trap photos and shared all photos and videos with each other.

All the ladies had a fantastic time learning from each other and experiencing Country that many had never been to before. Although we only found a few animal species and common plant species, they were all significant records due to the lack of surveys in this area in the past. The knowledge exchange was deemed a success with annual exchanges and the need for more cross-cultural biodiversity surveys discussed.

Banbai nation people at Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area in northern New South Wales are working with Michelle McKemey at the University of New England to develop season and fire calendars.

The calendars represent annual seasonal changes as well as biocultural factors that indicate the right, and wrong, time to burn. They are developed using results of ecological experiments, literature reviews, observations and cultural knowledge gathered through interviews. For more information read WINBA = FIRE, the Wattleridge IPA Fire and Seasons Calendar. The development of the WINBA = FIRE, Wattleridge Fire and Seasons calendar has been supported by the Firesticks Project.

The ALA is working with Michelle and her Indigenous collaborators to test an ALA prototype for an online interactive Indigenous seasonal calendar. This online platform will visualise and reflect the Indigenous knowledge contained within seasonal calendars and the context for which they were developed. The project will also create some opportunities for two-way sharing by linking to other biodiversity information contained in the ALA.

This work is part ALA’s Indigenous Ecological Knowledge plan which is exploring the role of various information management platforms in bridging the boundaries between traditional Indigenous knowledge and western science.

Traditional land management practices and Indigenous knowledge about plants, animals and the environment are connected with people, place and culture. This knowledge has developed over thousands of years and offers critical insights for managing the environment today. The ALA is exploring the role of information management platforms in bridging the boundaries between traditional Indigenous knowledge and western science.

The ALA’s IEK program of work recognises the essential nature of a participatory approach, and aims to provide tools to enable greater Indigenous participation in biodiversity information management and assessment, and to support other aspirations of Indigenous people related to ecological or biodiversity knowledge. We currently partner in two IEK projects, one in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory and one in Cape York, Queensland. Both projects are exploring two-way knowledge sharing and learning between traditional land custodians and the ALA.

This week the ALA is conducting a sprint (a software development work phase) to install the following improvements to the ALA’s website in response to feedback from the Olkola (Cape York) and Ngukurr (Arnhem Land) community users.

1. Introduction of specific spatial layers into the ALA’s mapping and analysis tools.
2. Modifications to the Species Profiles app to upload multi-media files and to improve useability.
3. Addition of a tab and other modifications on ALA Species pages to enable Indigenous stories, Indigenous language names and multimedia to be displayed.

The ALA hopes to collaborate with more Indigenous communities across Australia to foster two-way engagement in biodiversity knowledge.

For more information on the ALA’s IEK work, visit our blogs on the Yugul Mangi Rangers and the Olkola People.