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Island country: aboriginal connections, values and knowledge of the Western Australian Kimberley islands in the context of an Island Biological Survey

January 2013
Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 81(1):145

DOI:10.18195/issn.0313-122x.81.2013.145-182

Authors:

Tom Vigilante

Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation

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Map of coastal language families, languages, language groups and native title groups covering the

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Map of coastal language families, languages, language groups and native title groups covering the Kimberley Island Biodiversity Survey area.

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Island country: Aboriginal connections,

values and knowledge of the Western

Australian Kimberley islands in the context

of an island biological survey

T. Vigilante1, J. Toohey1, A. Gorring1*, V. Blundell2,

T. Saunders3, S. Mangolamara4, K. George1, J. Oobagooma5,

M. Waina6, K. Morgan6 and K. Doohan7

1 Kimberley Land Council, PO Box 2145, Broome, Western Australia 6725, Australia.

2 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa,

Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada.

3 PO Box 10, Derby, Western Australia 6728, Australia.

4 Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation, PMB 16, Kalumburu via Wyndham,

Western Australia 6740, Australia.

5 Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation, PO Box 648, Derby, Western Australia 6728, Australia.

6 Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation, c/- Kimberley Land Council, PO Box 821, Kununurra,

Western Australia 6743, Australia.

7 PO Box 5404, Albany, Western Australia 6330, Australia.

*Corresponding author: ari.gorring@klc.org.au

ABSTRACT – Our paper describes Aboriginal connections, values and knowledge of the Kimberley

islands and their resources in the context of a terrestrial biological survey of 24 islands, initiated by the

Western Australian Government and coordinated by the Department of Environment and Conservation

(DEC). The Kimberley islands represent part of the traditional lands of Aboriginal people in the region

and hold great signiﬁ cance and value for them. The Kimberley Land Council (KLC) facilitated the

participation of 50 Aboriginal Traditional Owners in this survey, which spanned ﬁ ve Native Title areas,

three of which have now been determined (Bardi and Jawi, Wanjina Wunggurr Dambimangari and

Wanjina Wunggurr Uunguu) and two of which are still in mediation (Balanggarra and Mayala). The KLC

and DEC negotiated a research agreement that provided for managed access to sensitive cultural sites,

data sharing, the participation of Traditional Owners in ﬁ eld work alongside scientists and input by

Traditional Owners in the ﬁ nal publications and recommendations resulting from this survey.

Our paper also places the island survey and its ﬁ ndings into the broader context of Indigenous

Natural and Cultural Resource Management (INCRM) in the Kimberley region, including the

development of Indigenous Protected Areas and Indigenous Rangers, and other projects such as ﬁ re

abatement and tourism management, along with traditional management practices which operate

independently from formal management programs.

KEYWORDS: Balanggarra, Bardi and Jawi, Dambimangari, Mayala, Traditional Owner, Unnguu,

Wanjina Wunggurr

145–182 (2013) DOI: 10.18195/issn.0313-122 x.81.2 013.145-182

RECORDS OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM

SUPPLEMENT

146 T. Vigilante et al.

INTRODUCTION

The numerous islands and surrounding waters

of the north-west Kimberley have been used and

occupied by Aboriginal people for thousands of

years. This use and occupation has included active

and passive management of valuable resources.

For the Traditional Owners (TOs) of these islands

they are places which represent complex entities of

cultural and ecological values; for instance, islands

are rarely known by a single name. Instead, they

have layered meanings of cultural signi cance.

Complex relationships of caretaking and naming

have continued into the present period despite

signi cant geographic and mobility constraints.

The islands are covered by several contiguous

native title determinations (which recognise

private property rights of Aboriginal people in the

islands and the seas) and claims. Tenure includes

exclusive and non-exclusive possession native title,

Aboriginal Reserves and unallocated Crown land.

The islands are components of Indigenous

cultural landscapes and seascapes that are of

enormous signi cance to TOs. As such, islands

are elements of the complex enculturated space

which Kimberley TOs call their ‘saltwater country’.

As such, they include many specific sites that

are focal points in the naming of islands, in local

and regional religious narratives, for ceremonial

practices and other cultural activities. The islands

also have important freshwater, plant and animal

resources. In recent times, TOs have undertaken

natural and cultural resource management projects

and programs aimed at identifying and managing

the values and resources in their traditional

country, including islands. The natural and

Indigenous cultural values of the islands have also

been recognised in the recent listing of the West

Kimberley on the National Heritage List under the

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation

Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) (Australian Heritage

Commission [AHC] 2011).

The Kimberley Islands Biodiversity Survey

(KIBS) was developed by the Western Australian

Department of Environment and Conservation

(DEC). The impetus for the survey was the need

to obtain baseline information on the biodiversity

values of the islands for future management

planning (Gibson and McKenzie 2012). The

Kimberley islands are of high conservation

value, containing many endemic and threatened

species which are, to some extent, protected from

threatening processes prevalent on the mainland.

The KIBS project demonstrated best practice for

involving TOs in a research partnership. The KLC

and DEC negotiated a research agreement that

provided for managed access to sensitive cultural

sites, data sharing, the participation of TOs in  eld

work alongside scientists, and input by TOs into the

 nal publications and recommendations resulting

from this survey. The KLC is the Native Title

Representative Body for the Kimberley and also

supports native title groups in natural and cultural

resource management through its Land and Sea

Management Unit.

Gibson and McKenzie (2012) provide a detailed

outline of the context, objectives and approach

of the KIBS. This paper aims to provide an

overview of TO connections, knowledge, values

and management plans for Kimberley islands

to complement other publications arising from

the KIBS project. It is organised into four major

sections. The  rst section describes the methods

and approach employed in this project. The

second section discusses the territories as well as

the cultural and linguistic characteristics of the

Aboriginal people connected to islands in the

surveyed area. Colonial impacts on their cultures

and relevant aspects of native title and land tenure

are also discussed. Section three addresses issues

regarding Indigenous natural and cultural resource

management, including the nature of Aboriginal

occupation and knowledge of islands as well as

Indigenous values associated with islands. The

 nal section considers issues regarding the future

management of islands.

METHODS AND APPROACH

RESEARCH AGREEMENT AND TRADITIONAL OWNER

ROLES AND PARTICIPATION IN THE SURVEY

For research projects to be truly collaborative

TO groups need to be involved at the project

development stage so that they share the research

agenda and concept. In the case of the KIBS, the

State had already developed a project proposal

in order to secure funding from Commonwealth

and State Governments. In this case, the KLC

(acting under TO instruction) agreed to negotiate a

research agreement with DEC prior to the research

commencing. In the past, there has been little or no

impetus for State Government agencies to engage

with Kimberley TOs in biological survey work

although there are records indicating that TOs

have attempted to secure a role in these processes

(Johnston and Tann 1991). Earlier biological

surveys in the region, including an earlier survey

of islands of the Bonaparte Archipelago (Burbidge

and McKenzie 1978), did not involve TOs, with

one notable exception. This was the Kimberley

Rainforest Survey (McKenzie et al. 1991) which

provides a precedent for TO participation in

biological survey work. Here, the project leaders

invited a senior Wunambal elder, Geoffrey

Mangglamara†, to join the  eld team and co-write

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 147

a paper on indigenous knowledge of rainforests

(Mangglamarra et al. 1991). There are also other

precedents from elsewhere in the state (Pearson and

the Ngaanyatjarra Council 1997; Brennan 2012).

The research agreement for the KIBS set a new

standard for collaborative research with TOs in

the North Kimberley. It included a number of

important provisions, such as the following:

• Field teams were accompanied by TOs to ensure

cultural heritage could be protected.

• In accordance with Aboriginal law and culture,

visitors needed to be welcomed to country

by TOs, and often this required some form of

ceremony such as a smoking ceremony.

• TO participation in the field teams ensured

that TOs could impart relevant local and

traditional ecological knowledge to the team and

also that TOs gained valuable new skills and

knowledge from the non-indigenous scienti c

team members (including some of the State’s

leading biologists).

• The research agreement also required that data

would be provided to the KLC at the end of the

project. It also made provisions for the KLC to

review and contribute to  nal publications to

ensure that the interests of TOs are considered.

Since the signing of this agreement, the KLC

has established a research and ethics committee

and developed a policy to guide future research

projects that relate to TOs and their land and

sea interests (http://klc.org.au/2010/12/02/klc-

research-protocol/).

TRADITIONAL OWNERS AND FIELD WORK

The general KIBS methods have been outlined by

Gibson and McKenzie (2012). The survey involved

sampling of 24 islands over three years with both

dry season and wet season surveys. Sampling

targeted mammals, reptiles, frogs, land snails,

birds and vascular plants. Prior to the  eld work,

DEC staff provided KLC with maps and satellite

images of proposed  eld sites. Based on these maps

and images, senior TOs advised if there were any

cultural heritage issues that would make these

sites unsuitable for access. In some instances TOs

also joined DEC staff in a  y-over of some of the

proposed sites. This desktop approach to cultural

heritage site identification is not ideal as some

Indigenous people are not familiar with using

maps, and small islands within archipelagos can be

dif cult to recognise from maps. However, funds

did not allow for on-ground site visits prior to the

survey.

Each  eld team included one or two TOs. These

TOs were selected by the relevant native title

group and were people with connections to the

speci c islands or broader country within which

the island was located. Over the three years of the

project 50 TOs took part in  eld work. Their names

are compiled in Appendix A (see also Appendix

A in Gibson and McKenzie 2012). Traditional

Owners played a number of roles on the field

team. On arrival at the site, they were asked to

provide an initial heritage site clearance to make

sure that any sensitive cultural sites in the area

had not been missed in the desktop approach.

It was also important to ensure that activities

did not disturb cultural heritage sites. Some

signi cant stone arrangements were recorded at a

number of sites and were documented for future

reference. Traditional Owners were also required

to participate in the  eld work with the scienti c

team. The level of experience and knowledge

varied widely among TO participants. Some

older people had grown up ‘on country’ and were

knowledgeable about various animals and plants,

while others who were young and had grown

up ‘in town’ were less knowledgeable. For many

younger participants this was their  rst time on

the surveyed island and it was therefore a valuable

experience for them.

Following the  eld program, some TO participants

were interviewed using semi-structured interviews

to document their experiences of the survey and,

where possible, photographs and cultural site data

were also compiled from  eld teams.

DATA SOURCES

This paper draws on information contained

in both published and unpublished sources.

Published sources are cited throughout the text.

Other information derives from semi-structured

interviews that were recorded by the authors of

this paper with Aboriginal elders from various

Aboriginal language groups associated with

the KIBS (including members of the Angus

and Stumpagee families, Daphne Wilfred, Janet

Oobagooma, Victor Barunga† , Jack Karadada†,

Basil Djanghara, Sylvester Mangolomara, Sylvia

Djanghara, Matthew Waina, Mary Taylor, Lionel

Mitchell, George Dixon and Selwin Meehan), and

with Aboriginal  eld participants in the KIBS (as

named in Appendix A). Statements attributed

to Aboriginal people are indicated and credited

throughout the text. This paper also draws on

data from earlier unpublished research and from

personal communications with TOs. Notes from

field trips undertaken by the Kimberley Land

Council with Mayala TOs as part of the North

Kimberley Saltwater Country Project also provided

some source material.

148 T. Vigilante et al.

INDIGENOUS CONTEXT FOR THE KIMBERLEY

ISLAND SURVEY

PROJECT AREA – SOCIAL SETTING, NATIVE TITLE,

LAND TENURE AND ABORIGINAL CONNECTION

The islands sampled during the KIBS are

located across the Traditional Countries of several

Aboriginal territorial groups. Historically, these

groups have been referred to by anthropologists

as ‘tribes’ (Tindale 1940, 1974) and more precisely

as ‘language groups’ (Blundell and Woolagoodja

2005; Kimberley Land Council [KLC] 2010; AHC

2011). For Kimberley Aboriginal people, language

is a part of their country, and a group’s name and

the language of its overall territory are usually the

same or similar (McGregor 2004). In some cases,

several Kimberley language groups comprise

larger Aboriginal societies, referred to as ‘native

title communities’ in native title materials (see

below). Society members generally intermarry

and they share beliefs and practices that set them

apart from other Kimberley Aboriginal societies.

Within the overall country of a particular language

group, individuals are members of descent groups

sometimes called ‘clans,’ and as such they are

connected to smaller areas of land called ‘clan

estates’ by anthropologists, or ‘my country’ by TOs

themselves. Each language group has its own term

for these estates, such as dambeema (Worrorra),

guraa (Wunambal and Gaambera), kûraa (Pelaa),

and booroo (Bardi). Typically, each person has a

primary connection to the estate of their father,

with associated rights and duties. Individuals also

have strong connections, with associated rights and

duties, to the estates of their other close kin.

In recent years, Aboriginal people have formally

de ned themselves in terms of native title groups

for the purpose of securing recognition of legal

title through the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). Native

title groups are often composed of one or more

language group whose members comprise a

distinct Aboriginal society as well as a single native

title community (Table 1, Figure 1).

FIGURE 1 Map of coastal language families, languages, language groups and native title groups covering the

Kimberley Island Biodiversity Survey area.

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 149

Native Title Group Language name

LANGUAGE FAMILY Ofﬁ cial Place Name Language Place Name

Dambimangari Umiida/Umiide

WORRORRAN

Un-named island in Talbot Bay

(called NW Molema by KIBS)

Manjalaaly

Wulalam Wulalam

King sher Muludb/Mulugudba

Worrorra Storr Yuwadan/Yeewadan Ganjal

Un-named island near Storr

(called Un-named by KIBS)

Yuduwala/Yoorruwala

Heywood Island Group

(Jungulu/Darcy sampled by KIBS)

Junulgu/Joonoolgoo

Byam Martin Miya/Meeyaa Jarra

Augustus Wurrulgu/Wurroolgu

Uwins Marrgalarlg

St Andrew Gumalamala

St George Basin including St Andrew Island Nyallingarni

Winjarrumi

WORRORRAN

Champagny (short wet season visit) Nimenba

TABLE 1 A list of language names for islands in the Kimberley Island Biodiversity Survey. Note that the island names provided here were compiled for the purpose of this

publication and may not be the only names by which these islands are referred to by different Aboriginal individuals and cultural groups. Orthography conventions

vary between language groups and in some cases have not been ﬁ nalised within groups. For that reason there may be some inconsistencies in this table. In some

cases two alternative spellings are provided for the same name. The names of some islands in Bardi and Jawi languages are published in Aklif (1999).

150 T. Vigilante et al.

Uunguu Wunambal

WORRORRAN

Coronation Garlinju

Boongaree Wunandarra

Bunjinii

Bigge Wuyurru

Katers Wung-gaarindjii/Wunggaarindjii

Gaambera

WORRORRAN

Middle Osborn Ngurraali

South West Osborn Umpatayi/Umbadayi

Un-named island

at Cape Bougainville

(called Wargul Wargul by KIBS)

Wargul Wargul

Mary Garrlala

Balanggarra Kwini/Belaa

WORRORRAN

Sir Graham Moore Niiwalarra

Forrest River language

WORRORRAN

Adolphus Jirritmirii/Jirridmirii

Mayala Ugarrang/Unggarranggi

& Umiide/Umiida

WORRORRAN

Hidden Banggoon

Lachlan Ooloogija

Long Oonggaliyan

Bardi and Jawi Jawi/Jaawi

NYULNYULAN

Sunday Iwany

Native Title Group Language name

LANGUAGE FAMILY Ofﬁ cial Place Name Language Place Name

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 151

The Wanjina Wunggurr native title community

covers most of the North Kimberley with their

overall territory consisting of the Wilinggin,

Uunguu and Dambimangari native title

determination areas. Members of the Wanjina

Wunggurr community share a law and culture

derived from Wanjina and Wunggurr ancestral

beings (described below). Within the overall

Wanjina Wunggurr community, the Wunambal

and Gaambera language groups and the Wunambal

and Gaamberra languages are associated with the

Uunguu determination area, while the Worrorra

language group and the Worrorra language are

associated with the Dambimangari determination

area. There are also Wanjina Wunggurr people who

are the TOs of islands and adjoining waters in the

Dambimangari native title area associated with the

Yawijibaya, Winjarrumi, Umiida and Unggarrangi

languages, which are no longer spoken but were

closely related to Worrorra. Members of the

Dambimangari and Uunguu native title groups

have strong connections to islands which form part

of their traditional country. The Wanjina Wunggurr

native title community also predominately includes

the Ngarinyin language group associated with the

Ngarinyin (also known as Ungarinyin) language,

and whose Wilinggin native title claim area lies

inland from the coast.

The Balanggarra Native Title claim area stretches

from Napier Broome Bay to Cambridge Gulf and

Wyndham town. TOs associated with the Belaa

(also known as Kwini) and Yeiji language groups

and the Argna, Arawari, Gular and Guragona

‘tribes’ among others are connected to this country

with a distinctive set of local laws and customs

(Kaberry 1934, 1935a, 1935b; Ben Ward & Ors

v. Western Australia & Ors [1998] FCA 1478 [24

November 1998]). The Bardi and Jawi native title

community includes the Bardi language group

from the tip of the Dampier Peninsula and the

Jawi from Sunday Island and other neighbouring

islands. The Mayala native title claim covers many

of the islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago and

Sunday Strait.

The 24 islands in the KIBS cover the country

of some 10 language groups. The majority of the

languages in the North Kimberley area belong

to a distinct Australian language family, the

Worrorran. All of these languages are derived from

an ancestral language called a proto-language, a

single language source (see McGregor and Rumsey

2009). One of the typological characteristics of this

family is that its languages have several (four or

more) gender terms or noun classes. Jawi belongs

to the Nyulnyulan language family together with

Bardi and other languages found predominantly on

the adjacent Dampier Peninsula and adjacent lower

Fitzroy River catchment. These languages have no

gender or noun classes.

Bardi and Jawi are very similar languages with

some slight differences in vocabulary; for example,

the noun for ‘dugong’ is odorr in Bardi and urdorr

in Jawi (Bowern 2007). There are also grammatical

differences; for example the inflected form ‘for

 ghting’ is biilingan in Bardi and biilan in Jawi -

note the different purposive case ending (Bowern

2008). Yawijibaya and Umiida are closely related

to Worrorra. There are some differences in verb

forms for example compare Yawijibaya beyagal,

Umiida bayalgolgo with Worrorra bengkaal , all

meaning ‘come here’. Grammatically, the ablative

case (meaning ‘from’) also differs, Yawijibaya –ga,

Umiida –naga and Worrorra –aalb(a) (McGregor

and Rumsey 2009). Areas associated with Jawi,

Yawijibaya and Winjarrumi languages consist

entirely, or largely, of islands and ocean water,

while areas associated with the other language

groups in the survey areas include islands and

ocean waters as well as large sections of the

mainland, such as for Wunambal.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF OCCUPATION AND

COLONIAL IMPACTS

Archaeological evidence suggests that Aboriginal

people have occupied north-west Australia for at

least 40,000 years and that the Kimberley was a

likely entry point for the arrival of the  rst people

across land bridges from Asia (Mulvaney and

Kamminga 1999). Throughout this period, sea levels

have risen and fallen with glaciations, and offshore

islands have rejoined the mainland and separated

again. O’Connor (1989) has remarked that there

are relatively few archaeological remains on many

islands despite ethnographic evidence of long and

intensive occupation. However, some signi cant

archaeological deposits have been investigated in

rock shelters on High Cliffy Island, Koolan Island

and Macleay Island, con rming a long history of

island occupation as early as 27,300 +/- 1100 BP

based on radiocarbon dating of deposited materials.

Other islands have rock art, stone arrangements,

shell middens and scattered artefacts.

Estimates suggest that prior to European

colonisation, the total Aboriginal population in

the coastal area between Yampi Sound and Cape

Londonderry was in the vicinity of 4000 people

(Crawford 1969).

In many cases, Aboriginal people residing on

islands experienced greater or earlier impacts from

colonisation than those on the mainland (Crawford

2001). Much of the early colonization came from

the sea, followed later by land-based expeditions

and pastoralism (Jebb 2002). Also, because of their

smaller countries and smaller numbers of people,

the island people and languages may have been

152 T. Vigilante et al.

more susceptible to the effects of colonisation. Of

the three distinct island languages in the Kimberley

(Yawijibaya, Winjarrumi and Jawi), only Jawi is still

spoken – albeit by a small number of old people.

By comparison, larger culturally distinct language

groups remain on large islands in the Northern

Territory, namely the Tiwi on Melville and Bathurst

Islands and the Anindilyakwa on Groote Eylandt;

these languages still being spoken by more than

a thousand people. The 2005 National Indigenous

Languages Survey Report estimated approximately

1500 speakers of Anindilyakwa, whereas the 2006

Australian Bureau of Statistics Census counted 1283

speakers (www.sorosoro.org/en/anindilyakwa),

accessed June 2012).

Makassan sea traders (from present day Indonesia)

had already begun visiting the Kimberley coast

from sometime between 1669 and 1763 (Crawford

1969; 2001). They established seasonal camps and

processing centres for sea cucumber, including on

some islands – Jar, Woku-Woku, Low, Corronade,

Champagney, Augustus and Cassini (Crawford

2001), and operated between Cape Londonderry in

the north and Brue Reef in the south. Aboriginal

people’s interactions with Makassans varied.

There was some exchange of language, trade and

marriage partners (Crawford 2001). Some groups

worked with Makassans in the harvest of sea

cucumber. The Juarinanda people of Sir Graham

Moore Island adopted many words of possible

Malay origin into their language and personal

names of individuals were derived from Malay

boating terms (e.g. Lain-moro, the gap between two

ships lying parallel at anchor) (Hernandez 1941;

Crawford 2001). Aboriginal people in the Kimberley

also obtained dugout canoes from Makassans and

local indigenous words for canoe ‘namandi’ and

‘barawa’ may have been derived from Malay dialect

(Crawford 2001), but this remains to be tested.

However, evidence also suggests that relations

between Aboriginal people and Makassans in

the Kimberley region were often hostile and

that Aboriginal people changed their movement

patterns between islands and the coast, and the

inland to avoid Makassans (Crawford 1983).

European seafarers began to arrive soon after

the Makassans and found that Aboriginal people

had already adopted hostile behaviours to visitors,

sending smoke signals to warn each other of the

arrivals and, in some cases, lighting  res to drive

the visitors away (Sholl 1865 cited in Crawford

2001; Perez 1977; Crawford 1969; 2001). The  rst

European visitors were mostly navigators and

explorers, including William Dampier in 1688 and

1699 (Dampier 1981 [1699]), Baudin in 1801 and 1803

(Baudin 1974 [1803]); King from 1819 to 1822 (King

1969 [1827]) and Stokes in 1838 (Stokes 1846). In one

of the earliest recorded encounters on 17 September

1819, Phillip Parker King documented Aboriginal

people on Lacrosse Island harvesting turtle eggs

and burning vegetation (King 1969).

Explorers were soon followed by colonists. Most

signi cant, was the failed attempt to establish a

pastoral colony at Camden Sound, which brought

Europeans into conflict with coastal Worrorra

people in the 1800s (Martin 1864; Richards 1990;

Crawford 2001). There are Aboriginal oral accounts

of con ict and massacres taking place between

early seafarers, including some on islands such as

Mary Island and Sheep Island (Crawford 2001).

The emerging pearling industry in Western

Australia expanded north and led to the establishment

of the township of Broome in the 1880s (McGonigal

1998; Edwards 1991). During this time coastal

Aboriginal people were forced into indentured or

slave labour (AHC 2011). From the 1890s pearling

luggers from Broome also began to exploit the

North Kimberley, often coming into con ict with

Aboriginal people (Crawford 2001). By the 1920s

the conflict had eased somewhat. Pearlers and

beachcombers encouraged Aboriginal people

to remain on the coast to work on luggers or in

camps during the dry season rather than move

inland, causing some disruption to traditional

lifestyle (Crawford 2001). During this time, both

Herbert Basedow (1918) and E.J. Stuart (1923)

undertook coastal voyages on luggers and recorded

their observations of the coast. Their accounts

suggest that there were still reasonable numbers

of Aboriginal people residing on islands at this

time, despite the increasing colonial presence.

They encountered Aboriginal people or evidence

of Aboriginal people on many islands still

living traditional lifestyles. Basedow (1918) also

documented the detailed island knowledge of

Aboriginal men from Sunday Island who worked

as crew on his vessel. In 1916, in the far north of

the Kimberley, he observed that ‘natives are often

seen on rafts’ in the area of the Holothuria Banks,

between Penguin Shoal and Warn Rock (Basedow

1918).

Following the failed pastoral attempts at Camden

Sound, more pastoralists and farmers began to settle

in the North Kimberley, near Wyndham and Derby

but also further north, including on Sir Graham

Moore Island and Barton Plains (Crawford 2001).

The Victorian Pastoral Company built a homestead

near Forrest River in 1886 (Green 2008). Con ict

between pastoralists and Aboriginal people led to

killings and massacres and police patrols began

capturing Aboriginal people and imprisoning them

in gaols in towns (Jebb 2002). The most recent and

well documented massacre occurred near Forrest

River in 1926 where a police patrol killed a large, but

unknown, number of people (Green 2008).

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 153

Contact with Europeans brought new disease

epidemics, such as leprosy and in uenza, which

exacted a huge toll on Aboriginal people. An

epidemic was said to have swept through the North

Kimberley coast in 1880 with so many people killed

that mortuary ceremonies could not be performed

(Green 2008). Crawford (2001) provides an account

of the Juarinanda people of Sir Graham Moore

Island who are said to have been killed in the late

19th century by a mysterious disease involving

worms under the skin, with the remainder of the

local population moving to Drysdale River Mission.

Drysdale River Mission diaries also document

epidemics, coupled with low birth rates and

intertribal killings (Perez 1977).

Christian missions were established along the

coast in the 1890s and early 1900s at Lombadina,

Sunday Island, Port George/Kunmunya/Wotjalum,

Drysdale River/Kalumburu and Forrest River.

The Christian missionaries wanted to protect

Aboriginal people from colonial impacts and

convert them to their denomination (Choo 2001).

Over time, Aboriginal people became increasingly

settled at missions but it was common practice

for groups of people to return to the bush for

some periods to observe cultural traditions and a

traditional lifestyle (Crawford 2001; Blundell and

Woolagoodja 2005). With the threat of Japanese

invasion during WWII, police patrols forced all

but a few people remaining in the bush to move to

settlements (Choo 2001). Missions often supported

themselves with shelling work that also enabled

Aboriginal people to visit island country. As was

the case for Janet Oobagooma who, until she

was about 11 years old, grew up on the islands

in the coastal region out from Kunmunya with

her grandparents and other old people. They

stayed on the islands throughout the year – even

during cyclones – using canoes to travel and hunt

for foods. Before Kunmunya Mission moved to

Wotjalum around 1953, Worrorra people used

to travel to Augustus Island for Christmas and

Easter holidays and for ‘shelling work’, collecting

pearl shell, baler shells, cowrie shells and living

off bush tucker like yams and fruits. Similarly,

Sunday Island Mission was sustained by shelling

work until it closed in the 1960s. Aboriginal people

from Sunday Island Mission spent several weeks

camped on various islands during the holiday

times collecting trochus shell throughout the

Buccaneer Archipelago; Daphne Wilfred spoke

of doing this in her childhood. After the 1950s,

Wotjalum and Sunday Island were forced to close

or relocate closer to towns due to lack of  nances.

Forrest River Mission also closed in 1968 but was

re-established as Oombulgurri four years later. This

led to a period of dislocation before communities

re-established themselves at Old Mowanjum,

One Arm Point and Oombulgurri. A number of

outstations were established during the 1970s and

1980s with the support of government funded

programs, including Nilagoon on Sunday Island

(however, it is no longer permanently occupied).

Today, TOs predominantly reside in the

communities of One Arm Point, Djarinjin/

Lombadina, Mowanjum, Kalumburu, Oombulgurri

and the towns of Broome, Derby, Wyndham and

Kununurra. Small outstations exist at Cone Bay

(Yaloon), Kandiwal (Mitchell Plateau), adjacent to

Kalumburu, and adjacent to Oombulgurri. It is

dif cult to provide current and accurate population

 gures for TO groups with connections to the area

of the KIBS. However, there are at least several

thousand TOs with connection to the saltwater

country covering the islands in this survey.

NATIVE TITLE RIGHTS AND INTERESTS

‘Native title’ is a form of interest in land and

waters recognised by the common law of Australia.

Unlike other forms of land tenure, it is derived

from legal systems outside the current Australian

legal system, but if it meets certain criteria it can

be recognised by Australian laws. The ‘other’ legal

systems from which native title comes are the laws

and customs of the Aboriginal society, community

or group who were in occupation of the claimed

area of land or waters at the time that the British

asserted sovereignty (in Western Australia, 1829).

If native title claimants can demonstrate that

the claimed land and waters were traditionally

owned by their ancestors under a system of laws

and customs which has continued to be observed

through to the present, and certain other legal

criteria are met, the common law of Australia will

recognise the ‘native title rights and interests’ in the

claimed area.

Like other land interests, native title rights can

be either exclusive (like freehold title) or non-

exclusive (like pastoral or other limited purpose

leases). Native title interests in land and waters

are private property interests which are protected

by the common law from wrongs such as trespass

or nuisance, in the same way that other land

interests are protected. However, because claims

for recognition of native title can take in excess

of a decade to resolve, claims which are not yet

determined (or recognised) by the Federal Court

provide some protection if they meet certain

technical criteria and are registered on the Register

of Native Title Claims. These pre-determination

protections are limited to procedural rights in

relation to proposals to grant competing interests

over the claimed area, such as a proposal to grant a

lease or a mining or exploration tenement.

154 T. Vigilante et al.

LAND TENURE AND NATIVE TITLE

During the early 1900s the Government of

Western Australia declared Aboriginal Reserves

over some lands adjacent to Aboriginal missions

and settlements, including Sunday Island,

Wotjalum, Munja, Kunmunya, Admiralty Gulf,

Cape Bougainville, Kalumburu and Forrest River.

In 1949, the Australian Presbyterian Board of

Missions applied, with partial success, for the

Kunmunya Reserve to be extended to include

islands off the coastline (Augustus Island and

parts of the adjacent Bonaparte Archipelago, and

the High Cliffy and Montgomery islands, and

parts of the adjacent Buccaneer Archipelago) and

waters adjacent to protect Aboriginal interests in

native dugong, turtle and  shing grounds from

the intrusion and exploitation by non-Aboriginal

people (Department of Land Administration File

55426 based on Government Gazettes, 13-06-49).

The islands were annexed but the waters were not

included in the reserve. Many other islands remain

unallocated Crown Land (meaning land over which

no other tenure has been created), including Bigge,

Adolphus and Long islands. Part of Sir Graham

Moore was leased in the 1920s to grow cotton but

this lease has long since expired.

Over the last 20 years, the State Government

has released planning documents recommending

conservation reserves for several islands (Burbidge

et al. 1991; Burbidge and McKenzie 1978) as well

as marine reserves (CALM 1994). In 2010 the State

Government released the Kimberley Science and

Conservation Strategy which includes a proposal to

declare reserves over some 30 islands (http://www.

dec.wa.gov.au/content/view/6171/2183/. Accessed

10/06/2012). These reserve proposals are subject to

negotiation with native title holders.

The majority of the area of the KIBS was covered

by native title claims in the period that the surveys

were done, and the balance of the area was subject

to a native title determination. In the period since

completion of the KIBS, the majority of the area

subject to native title claims has been recognised

in two further determinations to be subject to both

exclusive and non-exclusive native title rights and

interests.

These claims and determinations cover the

islands, seas, reefs, intertidal zones and adjacent

mainland. At the commencement of the KIBS

there was only one native title determination, the

Bardi Jawi native title determination. The Wanjina

Wunggurr Dambimangari native title claim and the

Wanjina Wunggurr Uunguu native title claim were

subsequently determined on 26 and 23 May 2011,

respectively. The registered native title claims are

the Mayala native title claim and the Balanggarra

Combined native title claim.

As noted above, native title rights and interests

can be recognised as ‘exclusive’ or ‘non-exclusive’.

While the actual content of these rights and

interests will depend on the rights that come from

traditional laws and customs, exclusive possession

native title rights and interests are the rights to

possess, occupy, use and enjoy land and waters

as against the whole world. Non-exclusive native

title rights and interests will depend on customary

rights in the land, but often include the following

rights and interests:

• To live on the land, camp, erect shelters and

move about the land and waters;

• To engage in cultural activities on the land and

waters, including the protection of places of

cultural signi cance from physical harm; and

• To hunt and  sh the land and waters and use

the resources of the land.

INDIGENOUS NATURAL AND CULTURAL

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Aboriginal peak bodies dealing with land, law,

culture and language have emerged over the last

30 years including the KLC and its Land and Sea

Management Unit, the Kimberley Aboriginal Law

and Culture Centre (KALACC) and the Kimberley

Language Resource Centre. The last 20 years has

also seen the emergence of a formalised Indigenous

natural and cultural resource management

movement.

The movement of people from their lands

and seas during the colonization period created

a context where traditional practices were

constrained and which saw the rise of some

environmental problems. Most significantly,

given the events of colonisation, the dif culty of

maintaining traditional land management through

seasonal burning by Aboriginal people across

some remote areas has led to a rise in large and

intense unmanaged wild res in the late dry season

(Vigilante et al. 2004). Bowman et al. (2001) coi ned

the phrase ‘the Wilderness Effect’ to explain the

environmental consequences of people moving ‘off

country’. There has also been a rise in physical and

social/cultural impacts on cultural values and at

sites of signi cance, largely because of unmanaged

visitation from tourists, government land managers,

pastoralists and mining and exploration companies

(discussed below).

One area of particular concern to TOs is the

largely unregulated expedition cruise industry

accessing Aboriginal cultural sites and Aboriginal

lands without consent (Scherrer et al. 2008, 2011;

Smith et al. 2009; Scherrer and Doohan 2011). In

response to these concerns, the KLC initiated The

Saltwater Country Project with North Kimberley

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 155

coastal TOs in 2004. The Saltwater Country Project

aims to document TO values and concerns for the

coastal region and develop management strategies

to protect cultural values. The project resulted in

the development of a plan with recommendations

from TO groups about the ways to manage tourist

visitation through permits, Aboriginal ranger

programs and Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs)

(North Kimberley Saltwater Country Plan 2010).

An IPA is a voluntary conservation covenant

registered on the Australia National Reserve

System to International Union for Conservation

of Nature (IUCN)classi cation with an objective

to protect at least 75% of the area. There is also

a funding commitment from the Australian

Government. A number of TO groups (including

Wanjina Wunggurr Uunguu and Bardi and

Jawi) have now established Aboriginal Rangers

through the Australian Government’s ‘Working

On Country Program’. Five coastal groups are also

developing IPAs with funding from the Australian

Governments IPA Program. IPA management plans

are being developed using a participatory planning

tool developed by The Nature Conservancy

called Conservation Action Planning (The Nature

Conservancy 2011; Moorcroft et al. 2012). In 2010

Wanjina Wunggurr Uunguu TOs became the  rst

Kimberley coastal native title group to declare

an IPA over two large Aboriginal reserves. It also

released its ‘Healthy Country Plan’ with support

from Bush Heritage Australia and the KLC

(Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation

[WGAC] 2010). Other significant natural and

cultural resource management projects are the

Bardi-Jawi Dugong and Marine Turtle Management

Project (Kennett and Kitchens 2009), the North

Kimberley Fire Abatement Project (http://klc.

org.au/land-sea/north-kimberley-fire-abatement-

project/; Fitzsimons et al. 2012) and Traditional

Knowledge recording projects (Horstman and

Wightman 2001; Karadada et al. 2011).

In 2008, the Australian Heritage Council

commenced a National Heritage assessment of

the West Kimberley. The assessment involved

identifying natural, historic and Indigenous values

that meet the technical criteria. The KLC was

funded by the Commonwealth to work with TOs

to identify values of outstanding heritage value to

the nation. TOs wanted the entire West Kimberley

to be listed for its heritage values. Although they

have their own distinct cultural traditions, they

share a common history of resistance, survival and

adaption over many thousands of years, with the

result that their ‘stories’, cultures and history are

interconnected. On 31 August 2011, following a

comprehensive culturally appropriate consultation

process, the West Kimberley as ‘one place with

many stories’ was included on the National

Heritage List by the Commonwealth Minister for

the Environment (see AHC 2011). The listing of the

West Kimberley on Australia’s National Heritage

list led the federal Environment Minister Tony

Burke to remark that this is the nation’s largest

land-based National Heritage listing and the  rst

to proceed with the full consent of the TOs (http://

www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2011/2011-08-31-

01.html. Accessed 30/03/2012).

The following themes and their associated

heritage values were authorised by TOs and were

ultimately included in the listing (see AHC 2011;

http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/

national/west-kimberley/index.html. Accessed

17/04/12):

• Wanjina Wunggurr cultural landscape and

sea-scape, including rock art and other

manifestations of Wanjina Spirit Beings, and

Gwion Gwion/Girrigorro rock art (Gwion

Gwion and Girrigorro are descriptive terms

used by North Kimberley language groups

to refer to a particular type of rock art and

associated narratives found in the region. We

also note that Balanggarra often spell Girrigorro

as Kirakiro or Kirrakirro).

• The Fitzroy River Catchment cultural landscape,

described through the narratives of the Snake

(Rainbow Serpent).

• The double log raft (Kalwa/Kalum often spelt as

gaalwa by Bardi and galam by Worrorra).

• Pearl stories – riches of the sea. The description

of this value also includes the concept of wunan

/wurnan cultural trade and exchange.

• Bungarun Leprosarium, sites associated

with the Noonkanbah dispute, the Bunuba

resistance and the role of Jandamarra and

Sacred Heart Church at Beagle Bay, all of

which TOs authorised for listing as part of the

listing’s overall theme of resistance, survival and

adaptation.

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE OF ISLANDS AND THEIR

BIODIVERSITY

The physical environment and setting of the 24

islands and the wider region has been described

by Gibson and McKenzie (2012). TOs have their

own detailed system of classifying landscape and

seascape features. For example, TOs use the concept

‘saltwater country’ (lalanggarram in Worrorra

[Clendon 2000] and gaarra in Bardi [Aklif 1999]) in

an effort to demonstrate to others that their country

– no matter what its component parts (water, reef,

salt water, islands, beaches and the hard ground

of the mainland or of rivers) – is meaningful (see

for instance WGAC 2010). At the more local and

tangible level, Indigenous classi cation of country

156 T. Vigilante et al.

emphasizes soil type and geomorphology which

in uence the distribution and abundance of plant

and animal resources. These same classi cations

apply to islands as microcosms of the mainland

(Crawford 1982). Each TO language group has

its own word for islands, including Iinalang

(Bardi – Aklif 1999), Ungajon (Worrorra – Janet

Oobagooma pers. comm.), Uumerige (Wunambal

– Jack Karadada†, pers. comm.) and Mudu (Belaa –

Crawford 1982).

The plant and animal knowledge of North

Kimberley TOs has been documented by

ethnographers working with TOs (Crawford 1982;

Lands 1997; Mangglamara et al. 1991; Paddy and

Smith 1987; Rouja 1998; Smith 1997; Smith and

Kalotas 1985; Kenneally et al. 1996). More recently

the KLC has undertaken ethnoecological work

with TO groups initially funded through the

Tropical Savanna Cooperative Research Centre.

This work has resulted in plant and animal

knowledge lists for the Wanjina Wunggurr Uunguu

and Balanggarra Native Title Groups including

words in Wunambal and Gaambera languages

and Belaa and Yeiji languages respectively (KLC

2000). In 2009 and 2010, the Wunambal Gaambera

Aboriginal Corporation undertook further work,

the results of which were published as a book in

May 2011 (Karadada et al. 2011). Belaa speakers

have done further work on their lists but this

remains unpublished. Worrorra speakers also

commenced similar work but their list also remains

unpublished.

ABORIGINAL CULTURAL BELIEFS AND VALUES

Aboriginal peoples’ connection to country

is influenced by their religious beliefs, long

occupation, and an extensive body of knowledge,

all of which relate to both extended and more local

stretches of country. Traditional Owner beliefs and

values have been articulated by various Aboriginal

people and by anthropologists (Chalarimeri 2001;

Blundell and Woolagoodja 2005; Ngarjno et al.

2000; Mowaljarlai and Malnic 2001). More recently,

as noted above, Aboriginal cultural values were

documented for assessment for national heritage

listing (Blundell and Doohan 2009; Blundell et al.

2009; Crawford 2009; Vachon 2009).

Like Aboriginal people across Australia,

Kimberley TOs believe in an era of creation when

ancestral beings formed features of the land and

the sea, created animals and plants, implanted

languages in the country and gave Aboriginal

people a set of laws and customs to live by

(AHC 2011). Generally glossed in English as ‘the

Dreaming’, or ‘the Dreamtime’ (Stanner 1979, 1987),

the events of the Dreaming are conveyed through

complex religious narratives that Aboriginal

people call their ‘stories.’ Importantly, the events

of the Dreaming resonate in the present. Ancestral

creator beings continue to inhabit the country

where they manifest themselves as rock art, stone

arrangements and other tangible and intangible

features of the land and the sea. As such, these

features provide visible evidence of creative

labours of these Dreaming Beings (Blundell

2003). Moreover, as powerful sentient beings, the

Ancestral Beings have the capacity to bring good

fortune, but also harm to humans and country.

The language groups whose territories are

included in the KIBS project have different accounts

of the Dreaming as well as different bodies of

laws and customs, as re ected by the native title

communities. Some ‘stories’ and some aspects of

their law are restricted and secret, particularly

parts of the male initiation ceremonies. Other

aspects are not restricted in the same way, but are

still controlled by rules and protocols of disclosure

such as who can grant an outsider permission to

visit country.

For members of the Wanjina Wunggurr

Community, the Dreaming is ‘Lalai’. As was

indicated above, this community includes the

Dambimangari and Uunguu native title groups (as

well as the Wilinggin native title group). Members

of these groups are TOs of islands and adjacent

waters associated with Worrorra, Gaambera,

Wunambal, Yawijibaya, Winjarrumi, Umiida and

Unggarranggi languages. Members of the Wanjina

Wunggurr Community share a unique set of

beliefs and practices including a patrilineal moiety

system of political organisation represented by

two nightjar birds, and other animal species. In

contrast to other Kimberley peoples, they consider

themselves to be the descendants of ancestral

beings called Wanjina who are responsible, along

with the Wunggurr Snake, for the creation of their

country and for their particular laws and customs

(Blundell et al. 2009). The Wanjina Wunggurr

TO, Janet Oobagooma, describes the creation of

the Prince Regent River and Saint George Basin

through the actions of two Wanjina who appear

in Lalai in their animal forms as Rock Cod and

Baler Shell (Blundell et al. 2009). As she recounts,

in the process of this creative labour, Baler Shell

transforms into St Andrew Island, which takes its

Worrorra name ‘Ngarlangkarnanya’ from the baler

shell. The other names associated with the island

are Gumalamala and Jirinii which are associated

with the local historical narrative coming from

Wunambal country to the north. Both of these

narratives are also associated with the prominent

Mt Trafalgar. This is one example of the complex

layered meanings that are associated with places

within the traditional country. These narratives

are embedded in the country and reflect the

interwoven nature of people, Lalai and place.

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 157

Another example is St Andrew Island – it is but a

part of a rich and textured space that includes river

beds, mountains and sea water.

In some of the Wanjina Wunggurr people’s

religious narratives, Wanjina transform themselves

into rock paintings, including some on islands

(Crawford 1969). Wanjina appear in these paintings

as anthropomorphic  gures, characterised by their

lack of a mouth (although there are exceptions).

These  gures have been widely represented in the

mainstream media and are depicted by Wanjina

Wunggurr people in their contemporary art. There

are also paintings in rock shelters on islands in

Wanjina Wunggurr territory that are identi ed as

Kaira beings, similar to Wanjina but originating

from the sea. One such painting occurs on Bigge

Island (Crawford 1968). Wanjina also manifest as

features of the landscape and seascape, and they

appear in the sky in the shape of the Milky Way.

There are also Wanjina and Wungurr that are

manifest as stone arrangements, of which there are

many on the islands. As well, Wanjina are closely

associated with the formation of clouds and the

life giving rains that arrive at the end of the dry

season, and with the child-spirits of their children

which men ‘ nd’ in a dream and then pass to their

wives. These child spirits, which people refer to

as ‘wunggurr’, reside in the country at wunggurr

sites, for example in whirlpools in the sea, stone

arrangements on islands and waterholes on land.

The northernmost islands in the KIBS occur

in the Balanggarra claim area. ‘Balanggarra’

unlike other terms of reference, does not have any

language, country or so-called ‘tribal’ connotations.

Balanggarra, which means ‘one mob together

for country,’ was chosen as an appropriate term

to describe the collective. Members of this claim

group have their own narratives regarding the

creation of their country and the source of their

laws and customs. These accounts emphasize the

ancestral Snake Wunggurr, also called Lu, who

created the King George Falls. This ancestral

Snake resides at Sir Graham Moore Island and in

the adjacent waters of the sea. The Balanggarra

elder, Matthew Waina, describes how many years

ago, some of his grandparents were drowned in

this area during a canoe voyage because of strong

currents attributed to this Snake. The Balanggarra

people’s saltwater country includes a reef called

‘Rinjii-barda bindingei’, located to the north of

Cape Londonderry in the vicinity of Stewart Island,

where the Dreaming Star ‘fell down’ to become the

highly prized and ritually important pearl shell

(Pinctada maxima) (Blundell et al. 2009).

The southernmost island in the KIBS lies in the

territory of the Bardi and Jawi native title group,

whose members, as we have seen, are connected

to areas of land and water associated with the

Bardi and Jawi languages. Like Wanjina Wunggurr

people, Bardi and Jawi people have a distinct

set of beliefs and practices. Their country is also

characterised by a distinct Indigenous cultural

landscape and seascape, where various features

are said to be the result of the actions of ancestral

Dreaming beings. Although TOs are very familiar

with these manifestations of the Dreaming or

Iniminongoon Jawal, such physical features of the

landscape, and seascape, may not be recognised by

people outside the cultural group.

Bardi and Jawi people attribute many features

in their country to a Dreaming ancestor called

Galalong (also spelled Galalang) who also created

natural resources in their country as well as many

of their laws (Petri 1938/40; KLC 2010). Along with

Galalong, there are other ancestral Dreaming

beings associated with Bardi and Jawi country.

One of them, Loolooloo, associated with saltwater,

manifests as a shark that helps guide people if they

are in trouble whilst travelling or hunting on sea

country (Frank Davey, pers. comm.).

Bardi-Jawi country is also inhabited by the pre-

existing spirits of Bardi and Jawi children called

‘rai’ (KLC 2010). While other Kimberley Aboriginal

groups have beliefs about the pre-existing spirits

of their children, as we have seen in the case

of Wanjina Wunggurr people, the expression

of this belief among Bardi and Jawi (as well as

among culturally similar groups on the Dampier

Peninsula) is quite distinct.

Rai comes to you in a dream. Sometimes they make

themselves visible to certain people and will leave

markers, like tracks in the sand. Rai live near fresh

water places and in caves, you have to be respectful

when you’re near their place otherwise they will get

upset. Rai choose who they belong to. When a rai

becomes human it takes on certain characteristics and

can often be identi ed by distinct markings on the

body. (Frank Davey pers. comm.)

For Bardi and Jawi people, their country,

inhabited by rai, constitutes the physical and the

spiritual source of their very identity as human

beings.

The Mayala claim area consists entirely of islands

and the adjoining waters and other features of the

sea. In contrast to the other native title claim areas

covered by the KIBS, TOs of the Mayala claim area

are connected to their island country on the basis

of two distinct cultural traditions, rather than one.

Some are connected on the basis of the Wanjina

Wunggurr culture, while others are connected on

the basis of beliefs that are more similar to those

of Bardi and Jawi culture. This situation appears to

re ect the geographical location of this claim area

between the Bardi and Jawi determination area, to

its south, and the Dambimangari determination

area of Wanjina Wunggur people, to its north.

158 T. Vigilante et al.

Historically, Mayala TOs have had important links

with both Wanjina Wunggurr groups and Bardi

and Jawi, including intermarriages between their

members. Their island country is also strategically

located at the nexus of a coastal trading network

that has extended along the Kimberley coast

and has involved TO traders associated with

different cultural traditions. This coastal network

is part of a much broader exchange system that

continues to operate across the Kimberley region

and is known as ‘wurnan’ to Wanjina Wunggurr

people and ‘anggarr’ or ‘rubarn’ to Bardi and Jawi

people (Blundell and Woolagoodja 2005). In the

past, the participation of Mayala people in this

coastal network allowed them to obtain mangrove

logs required for making the double log rafts (to

be described below) that they depended on in

order to move from island to island and access

the mainland. Logs for making these rafts were

obtained either directly or in trade from the large

mangrove swamps located on the eastern shore

of King Sound in the Dambimangari claim area.

The Jawi, on Sunday Island (in the Bardi and Jawi

native title determination area), were middle men

in this network, trading rafts and raft poles to Bardi

based on the Dampier Peninsula mainland; these

items were exchanged for spears which were in

great demand by island people given the scarcity

of suitable woods for making them on the islands

(Tindale 1974).

Throughout the survey area, a range of images

are found at rock art sites. Islands in Wanjina

Wunggurr country contain the world famous

anthropomorphic paintings of the Wanjina

described above, as well as paintings of other

animals and plants, some said to be Wanjina

in their animal form. Both Wanjina Wunggurr

country and Balanggarra country contain paintings

of small, delicate  gures that Worrorra people refer

to as Gwion Gwion, Wunambal and Gaambera

people call Gwion, and Balanggarra people call

Girrogorro (Crawford 1968; Ngarnjo et al. 2000).

These small lively  gures are depicted in scenes

that show activities such as hunting. Wanjina

Wunggurr people consider the Gwion Gwion to

have been put there by a Lalai (Dreaming) creator

bird, who is said to have painted the  gures with its

blood by using its beak, while Balanggarra people

consider the figures to represent the everyday

activities of their human ancestors (Blundell et al.

2009).

The Wanjina and Gwion/Girrogorro rock art was

the subject of a proposal for World Heritage listing

in the last decade; however, this proposal was

rejected by TOs because they believed that such

a listing would disconnect these sites from their

broader cultural/country context. For them, rock

art sites are components of their broader cultural

landscape and seascape (and their sky-scape) (cf.

McNiven and Russell 2005). In contrast, the recent

listing of the West Kimberley on the National

Heritage List, described above, was supported by

TOs because the listing recognises the broader

Wanjina Wunggurr cultural land- and sea-scape of

which this rock art is a part (AHC 2011).

In addition to rock art sites, islands contain

scatters of stone tools and middens as well as

stone arrangements, some of which are sacred

manifestations of Dreaming beings while others

are the foundations of shelters or windbreaks

(Blundell 1975; O’Connor 1987). There are also

engravings and burial sites on islands which are

of great signi cance to TOs. According to senior

men and women the islands have been used on a

seasonal basis for hunting turtle, collecting turtle

eggs and harvesting vegetable foods. Elders also

talk of ‘blackfella roads’ (morr in Bardi, and mayirri

in Jawi [Bowern 2008]), walking trails that connects

camping areas and water places on islands. Across

the saltwater countries of West Kimberley people,

there are also sites that relate to contacts between

Aboriginal people and outsiders that figure in

Aboriginal people’s oral accounts of their history.

Through time, places become marked through the

ceremonial as well as the more mundane practices

of TOs: an island in the Dambimangari claim area

is now known by the name of a Worrorra woman

who is buried there (Love 1938), while another spot

is referred to as the place where a Worrorra man

‘lost his glasses’ a few years ago.

CARING FOR COUNTRY

While members of the native title claim groups

have different beliefs and practices, they all have a

deeply felt responsibility to maintain the spiritual

health of their countries. Because the country is

perceived as sentient and alive, it is important for

TOs to regularly ‘visit country’. Country that is not

regularly visited by its TOs is said to ‘get lonely’

or in the case of shelters and caves along estuarine

river systems, ‘hide themself’ from TOs.

Caring for country involves landscape scale

burning during the dry season to facilitate the

growth of fresh vegetation with the arrival of the

annual rains. During bush trips, TOs will clean

away the overgrowth at places such as the graves

of deceased relatives. Such activities are said to

keep the country ‘bright.’ For Wanjina Wunggurr

people, caring for country includes ‘freshening’ (i.e.

repainting) the Wanjina who have ‘put themselves’

as paintings across their homeland (Blundell and

Woolagoodja 2005). Arriving at a painted site, TOs

‘call out’ to alert the Wanjina of their visit before

repainting their fading images. Bardi and Jawi

and Mayala people talk to the ‘rai’ places that are

inhabited by ‘rai spirits’.

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 159

In all the claim areas described above, islands

are inhabited by the spirits of deceased ancestors

and by the Dreaming ancestral beings. In the case

of the Worrorra people, the last place where the

deceased ‘foot touches ground’ before entering the

afterlife is an island. There are culturally speci c

rituals that must be followed so as not to offend

these resident spiritual beings. For example, when

they arrive at islands, Aboriginal people call out

to announce their arrival and then perform other

rituals to ensure a safe visit. Strangers, or TOs

who have been absent for a while, undergo a ritual

whereby they walk through smoke produced by

placing green leaves or certain kinds of seaweed

on a small  re. It is imperative that strangers to a

country be introduced in this way; the smoke is

said to eliminate strange scents from the visitors

which allows the country to recognise them. As the

Balanggarra TO, Neil Taylor, stated:

A lot of old people used to walk around here before,

on the side of this beach, in this country. So when

strangers come here...they got to get smoked by smoke

 re...so they don’t get sick walking around in the bush,

you know. That’s why we put everyone through the

smoke, so no one can’t dream about the old time, the

olden day spirit make them silly in the head.

‘Caring for country’ is a reciprocal relationship

between TOs and their spiritual beings. In the

case of outsiders, it requires the asking and giving

of permission by the appropriate TOs in order to

access a particular area and the resources in it.

Some areas are dangerous or restricted to outsiders

and cannot be visited, such as law grounds, certain

cultural sites, and burial grounds. A late Ngarinyin

elder, a member of the Wanjina Wunggurr

community, wrote about an island off Champagney

Island called ‘Libudbud Udman Ngirri Ngari’.

This island is considered a portal to ‘Dulugun’, the

home of dead spirits for members of his community

(Mowaljarlai and Malnic 2001; cf. Lommel 1997 viz

1952). The island is a dangerous place where people

should not visit (K. Oobagooma†, pers. comm.).

There were many instances during the KIBS project

when TOs identi ed important cultural sites on

islands that the survey team needed to avoid

or only visit if accompanied by a TO. Sylvester

Mangolamara and Sylvia Djanghara spoke of the

importance of burial sites as well as Wanjina rock

art on Bigge Island. Terry McCarthy spoke of law

grounds on Sunday Island that teams needed to

avoid. Rai spirits found in both the Bardi and Jawi

and the Mayala claim areas can cause trouble for

strangers who visit or camp in the wrong place, or

visit these claim areas without being introduced in

the proper way.

ACCESS TO ISLANDS, OCEAN TRAVEL AND

NAVIGATION

On the north-west coast from One Arm Point

and Sunday Island to Napier Broome Bay, rafts

made from logs cut from the trunks of the Kapok

Mangrove tree, Camptostemon schultzii, were

widely used for water travel in the sea (Vachon

2009; Love 1936; Tindale 1974). Bardi, Jawi, Umiida,

Ungarranggu, Worrorra, Yawijibaya, Winjarrumi,

Wunambal, Gaambera and possibly Kwini people

utilised a raft made up of two overlapping raft

platforms, referred to as a ‘double-raft’ in the

literature (Akerma n 1975; Love 1936) and catamaran

by some Aboriginal people. Names for the raft vary

between languages: gaalwa (Bardi - Aklif 1999;

Kevin George, Angus and Stumpagee families,

pers. comm.), Biel Biel/biyal biyal (Jawi), galam/

galum (Worrorra) (Love 1936; Akerman 1975),

walawa/bililu/wurndala (Wunambal, Capell 1941;

Karadada 2011) and wundana (Belaa) (Dolores

Cheinmora†, pers. comm.). Mayala people describe

another raft called a munjilal/manjilal kalwa

of the same design but larger, lighter, and more

buoyant, made from mangrove trees (probably also

Camptostemon schultzii) harvested at a particular

location in Talbot Bay. Rafts often became sodden

with water after a journey and needed to be

brought ashore to dry but the munjilal kalwa

did not. A wooden paddle made of cypress pine

was used to propel the raft, but long distance

journeys relied on tides and currents to carry the

raft. Saltwater people are proud of their detailed

knowledge and particular skills that allow them to

navigate the massive tides and often treacherous

coastal regions. For instance, Bardi people have a

detailed knowledge and classi cation system of

tides that enabled them to navigate some of the

most treacherous waters in Australia by raft (Smith

1997; Rouja 1998). This knowledge continues to

assist them today. According to Daphne Wilfred,

there are names for the passage ways through the

islands that enable her people to avoid dangerous

whirlpools. They also use the stars to navigate

during the night. The detailed cultural knowledge

of the tides is expressed in ‘Ilma’ the traditional

song and dance practice of Bardi and Jawi people.

In the north-west Kimberley, dugout canoes

have also been used for sea travel over the last few

hundred years. Evidence suggests that these crafts

were initially obtained from Makassans (present

day Indonesians) by Wunambal, Gaambera and

Kwini people, who later learned to make them

themselves (Crawford 2001). Local Aboriginal

names for canoe (namandi, barrawar, barrawara,

barrawal, jirraarri) are similar across language

groups. Canoes are known to have been made from

a variety of native tree species including Bombax

ceiba, Nauclea orientalis, Canarium australianum,

160 T. Vigilante et al.

Melaleuca spp., Brachychiton diversifolius, Alstonia

actinophylla and Ficus racemosa (Crawford 1982, 1983,

2001; Karadada et al. 2011). Later, during the 1900s,

canoes were also adopted by Worrorra people at

Kunmunya Mission (Love 1936), Yawijibaya at

Montgomery Reef and later by Bardi, Jawi, Umiida

and Unggarrangi people around Sunday Island

Mission, who call them barrawar (Aklif 1999;

Daphne Wilfred, pers. comm.). Canoe journeys by

Wunambal, Gaambera and Worrorra people have

been documented, including journeys of up to 50

km offshore to reefs such as Holothuria Reef and

Cassini and Troughton islands (Basedow 1918;

Lommel 1997; Crawford 2001).

In some circumstances, canoes have some

advantages over rafts; they are more manoeuvrable,

less susceptible to the in uences of the tides and

wind, less prone to water logging, can be paddled

further offshore, and can carry up to 10 people.

However, they are less stable than rafts, sometimes

 ll with water and can capsize in rough weather

and tidal currents (Love 1936; Crawford 2001;

Daphne Wilfred, pers. comm.).

In the Cambridge Gulf area, Aboriginal accounts

suggest that people did not commonly have rafts

or canoes but typically swam across estuarine

channels using buoyant logs and assisted by tides,

or waded across shallow sandbars at low tide.

Balanggarra elders, George Dixon and Selwin

Meehan (pers. comm.) have described how, on

several occasions in their youth, they accompanied

old men swimming across from Forrest River

Mission to Adolphus Island to hunt flying fox

which roosted on the island in great numbers.

They would select a dry buoyant log of any kind

to aid them in their swim. This method of crossing

Cambridge Gulf was commonplace. Green (2008)

has stated that there are instances in which rivers

have been forded at low tide with the support of a

log on which infants and dogs have been balanced.

Green (1988) provides two further accounts of

Forrest River people crossing tidal waters and the

hazards of crocodiles. In one account a woman gave

up the dog she was carrying to a crocodile to save

herself.

In 1925, a woman named Ungala crossed the Forrest

River to gather lily-seeds at some lagoons. When she

tried to cross back to Bremlah the tide was in. She

got a small log with little roots at one end, placed her

paperbark parcel of lily roots and seeds on the root end,

and her pup on top. Pushing the loaded log in front

of her, she started across. Near the middle of the river,

a crocodile appeared. Ungala calmly waited until he

came up, and then gave him the pup and continued on.

When she reached the other side she cried for her pup.

Flying Fox Island was a popular place for collecting

crocodile eggs as well as getting the fruit bats for

cooking. One Saturday a party of mission boys, some

twenty in number, went down the Forrest River to

hunt for crocodile eggs. The tide was low as they

crossed a sand bank to a small island. They found a

nest of crocodile eggs and at once made a  re and had

a feast. While they were feasting the tide rose, and

when they started homewards the water was already

waist high. They joined hands for safety, and shouting

to keep off the crocodiles they entered the water. The

crocodile whose nest they had robbed, however, was

awaiting them. She attacked the boy at the end of the

line, but he succeeded in beating her off. She at once

went along the line and caught, by the calf of the leg, a

lad named Eura. With great coolness he succeeded in

getting his hand in her mouth, and caught her by the

tongue. She let go, but pulled the muscle of his leg out

in a loop. It was a nasty wound. He also had his hand

badly cut.

The explorer Basedow (1925) suggests that this

simple mode of water crossing was widespread

across northern Australia:

The simplest type of  oat is no doubt the log of light

timber used along the north and north-east coast. The

straight trunk of a mangrove is selected, and from it a

log is cut, about  ve or six feet long, which is stripped

of its branches. Where a river or estuary has to be

crossed, such a log is slipped into the water and the

native lays his body over it, lengthwise with his legs

straddling it…

Senior Aboriginal men and women do not live in

fear of crocodiles. Balanggarra elder Mary Taylor

spoke of how her father and her husband would

speak to the crocodile in Aboriginal language and

tell it not to harm them, before swimming across

Cambridge Gulf or across to islands. Similarly,

Worrorra elder Janet Oobagooma, whose wunggurr

child spirit is the saltwater crocodile, was also

taught by her elders to speak to crocodiles and tell

them not to cause harm. Sylvester Mangolomara

spoke of how his grandfather taught him to speak

to crocodiles:

I swear at him in language, then I tell him ‘you’re not

the boss, I’m Wunambal, you’re Wunambal’. Then I

look him in the eye, and he duck down and take off. He

listen. This country not only from him.

Saltwater crocodiles are also considered food and

were sometimes hunted from raft or canoe (Jack

Karadada†, pers. comm.).

OCCUPATION OF ISLANDS

Aboriginal occupation of islands has ranged

from permanent occupation of some of the larger

islands, to seasonal occupation of accessible

islands, to occasional visits to some of the smaller

and more remote islands. Evidence for occupation

comes largely from the accounts of TOs and from

archaeological evidence.

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 161

O’Connor (1989) has remarked on the paucity of

shell middens and scattered artefacts on islands

in the Buccaneer Archipelago, despite the long

occupation of many of the islands. She concludes

that Aboriginal people mostly camped on beaches

where camp remains have been removed by the

in uence of large spring tides. The exceptions are

Macleay Island and High Cliffy Island which have

signi cant numbers of artefacts and Koolan and

High Cliffy Island which have rock shelters with

rich deposits from human occupation. There is

similar evidence on the Maret Islands and TOs talk

of ceremonial activities and large occupation camps

on Bigge Island. Further north, Sir Graham Moore

Island is also known to have a signi cant shell

midden (Matthew Waina, pers. comm.).

For some TOs their country has been focused

on particular islands and these people have been

considered ‘island people.’ There is evidence to

suggest that in the past such ‘island people’ spoke

distinct languages or dialects and had particular

ritual and ceremonial activities that were speci c

to being saltwater and island people. According

to some researchers, in the past Sunday Island

(O’Connor 1989), Montgomery Islands (Tindale

1974; O’Connor 1989), Champagny Island, Augustus

Island, Bigge Island and Sir Graham Moore

Island (Crawford 1983) sustained semi-permanent

populations and were associated with particular

clan groups. These larger islands have permanent

water and rich resources that supported such

populations. For some TOs, their country has

consisted of both islands and mainland areas;

for instance Bigge Island and the Maret Islands

are part of a larger single ‘country’ that extends

onto the mainland. There has been movement

of people between island and mainland groups,

with intermarriage and trade of goods and

culture (Blundell 1975; Crawford 2001). During an

archaeological survey of island countries in the

Montgomery Islands area, Blundell was told by a

senior Worrorra man that the Yawijibaya, the local

group connected to the Montgomery Islands ran a

‘school’ for mainland Worrorra boys, teaching them

how to exploit the abundant marine resources of

the area (Blundell 1975).

Other smaller islands could only be accessed

seasonally, dependent on the availability of

permanent fresh water and food. Crawford

(1983) has described how Wunambal and

Gaambera people living on Cape Voltaire and

Cape Bougainville were able to seasonally access

islands and reefs by canoe, but with some socially

derived constraints as well as seasonal in uences.

Many islands lack permanent fresh water and

strong south-east winds in dry season months

effectively closed the seas to canoe travel. For this

reason, canoe voyages were made as short raids

on resources while families remained camped on

the adjacent peninsulas. Voyages were typically

undertaken during neap tides each fortnight,

in order to avoid strong currents. The voyages

targeted resources like turtle eggs on nesting

beaches, sea turtle and dugong on reefs, and yams

and root crops collected at the end of the wet

season. Fruit bearing trees are abundant on some

of the offshore islands and, along with birds and

marine animals, provided a major incentive for

visiting these islands in the wet season (Blundell

1975). Once the dry season arrived and the seas

became inaccessible, coastal groups would move

inland to join inland groups hunting kangaroos

with fire and collecting freshwater resources.

The same pattern has been documented for other

groups (Kwini – Crawford 1982; Worrorra - Blundell

1975). This seasonal movement of people to utilize

different rich food resources also allowed for

intermarriage and ceremonial exchange (Blundell

1975). Traditional Owners continue to spend time

on these islands, visiting them, setting up camps,

performing ceremonies and accessing resources.

This ongoing use and occupation of islands has

been formally recognised, leading to the Bardi

and Jawi, Dambimangari and Uunguu native title

determinations.

WATER SOURCES ON ISLANDS

The availability of fresh water, which varies

across islands, has been one of the principal

constraints on the extent to which islands can be

used and occupied by Aboriginal people. Some

islands have permanent and reliable sources of

fresh water while other islands have ephemeral

water or no water at all. Augustus Island has some

large creek systems which  ow part of the year

and retain permanent pools. Sir Graham Moore

Island has a freshwater pool on its north side that

has waterlilies and seepage on the southern side

(Crawford 2001). These water sources may have

suffered some degradation from tidal surge and

lack of  re allowing them to be overgrown with

vegetation (Matthew Waina, pers. comm.). Many of

the islands have freshwater springs that are covered

at high tide and exposed when the tides are low.

Mr Jack Karadada† has explained how he placed

standing stones above the tide line as markers of

these sites.

Bardi and Jawi people describe a number of types

of fresh water (Aklif 1999). Oomban are freshwater

seepages that  ow in the intertidal sands and can

be dug up at low tide but are covered by the sea

at high tide. Oomban occur on most islands and

provide drinking water to birds (Daphne Wilfred,

pers. comm.). Iidarr are creeks, the majority of

which are largely ephemeral on islands but in some

cases can  ow much of the year; biidin is water that

162 T. Vigilante et al.

can be dug just below the surface in creeklines and

depressions; oongoor is rainwater that collects in

 at rockpools; and niimid is rainwater in deeper

rock pools. A number of larger islands have ‘oola’

- permanent water sources (Kevin George, Angus

and Stumpagee families, pers. comm.). Emergency

water can also be obtained from the raw white meat

of the giant clam.

As Crawford (1983) outlined above, in Wunambal

and Gaambera country, many offshore islands

could be reached by long voyages on canoe or raft

to exploit marine resources on the surrounding

reefs but the islands had limited fresh water. Where

water was not available, people survived for a few

days on water carried on board inside baler shells

and also by obtaining moisture from marine turtle

eggs.

The availability of fresh surface water is likely to

affect the occurrence of some species on islands.

According to Worrorra elder Victor Barunga†, the

permanent pools on Augustus Island support

aquatic species like freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus

johnstonei) and freshwater (chelid) turtles and

waterlilies. Large animals like kangaroos, emus and

dingos are dependent on regular access to drinking

water. Agile wallabies (Macropus agilis) are able to

survive by accessing fresh water in the intertidal

areas at low tide or by drinking sea water and

thrive on some islands like Adolphus and Mary

Island where water is not permanent.

Knowledge of the location of freshwater places

and their names is an important component of the

traditional knowledge of Aboriginal people. Many

freshwater places are culturally important sites

associated with the Dreaming and are a source

of ‘spirit babies’ that are important for conception

(AHC 2011). Aboriginal people believe that when

strangers visit these water places without being

accompanied and welcomed by TOs the water

sources can dry up. Mayala people emphasize

that in their country some waterholes need to be

maintained by removing mangroves, vegetation

and sediment to restore their  ow or to expose the

water.

A freshwater spring on the south side of Augustus

Island has a long history of use by both Aboriginal

people and various visitors. Dambimangari people

call it Aagungarlangarlangarri in Worrorra, which

translates as ‘talking water’ in English (Aagu =

water, ngarla = talk, -ngarri = associated with)

(Love 1936; Heather Umbagai†, Janet Oobagooma,

pers. comm.). A Makassan  eet was documented

taking water from here in 1865 (Crawford 2001).

Worrorra people revealed its location to the

Camden Harbour settlers under some duress in

the 1860s (Crawford 2001). Bishop Torres visited

it on his voyage and suggested it was shown on a

navigation chart in 1906 (Perez 1986). It was also

used by pearl luggers into the 1920s (Basedow

1918). Janet Oobagooma (pers. comm.), who lived on

the island as a child, said the spring used to have

a hollow log acting as a pipe to make it easy for

luggers to collect water but this has now gone.

FOOD ON ISLANDS

Island people identify themselves as ‘Saltwater

People’ relying predominantly on rich marine

resources like turtle, dugong,  sh and shell sh

for much of their diet, and camping close to the

sea (Crawford 1983; O’Connor 1989). However,

islands also hold some important terrestrial

food like edible plants, sugarbag and  ying fox

that have been seasonally harvested or taken

opportunistically.

In the past, rafts and canoes allowed men to

hunt sea turtle and dugong on reef systems in

the Buccaneer Archipelago, Montgomery Reef

and around offshore islands (O’Connor 1989).

These areas continue to be prime locations for the

contemporary hunting and  shing practices of TOs.

During lalin, the turtle breeding season (October

to December), green turtles aggregate and mate at

certain places around Sunday Island. Jawi people

have vantage points on the island where they can

watch the loo, tidal current, for mating turtles

(Kevin George, Angus and Stumpagee families,

pers. comm.). Sea turtles lay their eggs on many

islands, and both nesting females and their eggs

can be harvested at this time. Marine turtles also

lay their eggs on island beaches and are important

foods for Aboriginal people (Green 1988). Flatback

turtles tend to favour inshore islands and mainland

beaches while green turtles favour offshore islands

with clearer waters (Karadada et al. 2011).

Shell sh like trochus, giant clam, oysters, baler

shell and trumpet shell are abundant on some reefs.

Aboriginal people know how to use  sh poisons

made from certain plants (e.g. Tephrosea rosea) to

harvest  sh in rock pools at low tide (Kenneally

et al. 1996; Karadada et al. 2011). Fish can also be

speared by hand.

Offshore islands are important nesting sites

for seabirds and Aboriginal people harvest these

eggs in season. Twin Island near One Arm Point

has nesting terns, sooty oystercatchers, pelicans

and other species (Akerman 1985; Hassell and

Boyle 2002). Bardi and Jawi people still visit

these islands to harvest seabird eggs in August-

September (Terry McCarthy, pers. comm.). Seabird

eggs, namely boobies and terns, were harvested

on the Montgomery Islands by Yawijibaya people

and taken as gifts to mainland people (Love 1936;

Blundell 1975). Wunambal and Gaambera people

have also visited a number of islands during

Yirrma, the south-east wind time (approximately

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 163

TABLE 2 Some plant foods speciﬁ cally identiﬁ ed by Traditional Owners as being locally important on particular islands.

Table 3 provides a more comprehensive list of plant species recorded in the KIBS on islands and known to

be used across these language groups generally.

Species Language names Islands Sources

Buchanania obovata ‘green plum’

(including fruits and roots)

Gorrol (Bardi)

Kuleyi (Balanggarra)

Long

Sir Graham Moore

Daphne Wilfred

Matthew Waina

Vitex glabrata ‘blackberry’ Kukulangi/kulangi (Balanggarra)

Gulangi (Wunambal)

Sir Graham Moore

Bigge

Matthew Waina

J. Karadada

Persoonia falcata ‘bush pear’ Kandala (Balanggarra) Sir Graham Moore Matthew Waina

Mimusops elengi ‘bush jaffa’ Joongoon (Bardi)

Yangkowii (Wunambal)

Walarra (Wunambal)

Widespread

Long

Bigge

Daphne Wilfred

J. Karadada

Aklif (1999)

Flueggea virosa ‘white currant’ Goorralgar (Bardi) Widespread Aklif (1999)

Ficus leucotricha Goorrir (Bardi) Sunday

Jackson

Long

Aklif (1999)

Ficus platypoda,

F. atricha

Barramanbi (Wunambal) Bigge J. Karadada

Karadada et al. (2011)

Syzigium eucalyptoides Iilarr (Bardi) High Aklif (1999)

Terminalia ferdinandiana

‘billygoat plum’

madoorr (Bardi)

arrangoor (Jawi)

Sunday

Long

Monty Wilfred†

Aklif (1999)

Terminalia petiolaris Marool (Bardi) Long Aklif (1999)

Aidia racemosa / Carallia brachiata Dumulinggu (Wunambal) Bigge J. Karadada

Karadada et al. (2011)

Canarium australianum Long Monty Wilfred†

May to August), to harvest seabird eggs (Love 1936;

Crawford 1983).

Little corellas nest in rocky crevices on several

islands in the Buccaneer Archipelago including

Jawinarr (the Tryer Islands Group) and rocky

islands near Long and Mermaid Islands.

IMPORTANT PLANT FOODS ON ISLANDS

Islands have a wide variety of edible plant

species. A comparison of the KIBS species list with

documented Aboriginal food species shows there are

some 126 species, subspecies and varieties across the

24 islands in the survey (Tables 2 and 3). However,

prior to the introduction of motorised watercraft

the exploitation of these plant foods would have

depended on whether the islands could be accessed

when the foods were in season and the availability

of other foods. Use of different plant species also

varies somewhat between Aboriginal groups. There

are examples of islands being seasonally accessed

to harvest rich plant resources, particularly yams

and bush fruits. In other situations plant foods have

been accessed opportunistically to supplement other

staples. There is some evidence to suggest that plant

resources have been managed by Aboriginal people

and that the distribution and abundance of some

species is a product of this management (Hynes

and Chase 1982). This management has included

the use or exclusion of  re, replanting of yams and

the deliberate or inadvertent spreading of seeds

(Vigilante 2004).

164 T. Vigilante et al.

TABLE 3 The presence of edible plant species on islands, based on ethnoecological literature and the plant species recorded during the Kimberley Islands Biological Survey.

Food uses are classiﬁ ed as either fruits, roots, leaves, gum or nectar. References (Ref) to the ethnoecological literature are as follows: 1 – Karadada et al. (2011),

Uunguu; 2 – D. Cheinmora†, pers. comm., Crawford (1982); 3 – Kenneally et al. (1996); 4 – Wheeler (1992); and, 5 – Brock (1993).

Island key: ADO – Adolphus, AUG – Augustus, BIG – Bigge, BOO – Boongaree, BYM – Byam Martin, COR – Coronation, DAR – Darcy/Jungulu, HID – Hidden,

KAT – Katers, KIN – Kingﬁ sher, LAC – Lachlan, LON – Long, MAR – Mary, MOS – Middle Osborn, NWM – NW Molema, SGM – Sir Graham Moore, STA – St Andrew,

STO – Storr, SUN – Sunday, SWO – South West Osborn, UNN – Un-named, UWI – Uwins, WAG – Wargul Wargul, WUL – Wulalam Island.

Species Food use Ref ADO AUG BIG BOO BYM COR DAR HID KAT KIN LAC LON MAR MOS NWM SGM STA STO SUN SWO UNN UWI WAG WUL Sum

Acacia colei var. colei seeds 3 • • 2

Acacia tumida seeds 2,3 • • • • • •6

Acacia tumida var. tumida seeds 2,3 • • • • • 5

Adansonia gregorii fruit, nut,

roots

1,2 •• • • • • •• 8

Aidia racemosa fruit 1 • • • • • • • 7

Ampelocissus acetosa fruit, roots 2,5 • ••••• ••• •••• ••• •17

Amyema spp. fruit, nectar 1,2,3 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 14

Antidesma ghaesembilla fruit 2,5 • • • • • • • • • • • 11

Avicennia marina fruit 3 • • • • • • • • • • 10

Avicennia marina subsp.

marina

fruit 3 • •2

Bombax ceiba var.

leiocarpum

roots 1,2 • • • • 4

Brachychiton diversifolius seeds, roots,

gum

1,2,3,4 • • • • • • • • • • • 11

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 165

Brachychiton  tzgeraldianus seeds, roots,

gum

1•• •3

Brachychiton incanus seeds 2 • 1

Brachychiton tridentatus seeds, roots 1 • •••4

Brachychiton tubersulatus seeds • 1

Brachychiton viridi orus seeds, roots 1 • • • • •5

Brachychiton viscidulus seeds • • • 3

Brachychiton xanthophyllus seeds • • 2

Bridelia tomentosa fruit 3 ••• ••••••• •••• •• •••19

Buchanania oblongifolia fruit, roots 1,2,5 • • • • 4

Buchanania obovata fruit, roots 1,2,5 • • • • • • • • • 9

Canarium australianum seeds 1,2,3 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 13

Canarium australianum

var. australianum

seeds • • ••••6

Canarium australianum

var. glabrum

seeds • • • • • • • • • • 10

Canarium australianum

var. velutinum

seeds •• •• 4

Capparis jacobsii fruit 2 • • • • 4

Capparis umbonata fruit 2 • • • 3

Carallia brachiata fruit 1,5 •• 2

Species Food use Ref ADO AUG BIG BOO BYM COR DAR HID KAT KIN LAC LON MAR MOS NWM SGM STA STO SUN SWO UNN UWI WAG WUL Sum

166 T. Vigilante et al.

Carissa ovata fruit • • 2

Cartonema parvi orum roots 1 • ••••• •7

Cassytha  liformis fruit 3 • ••• •••• • ••••• 14

Cayratia trifolia roots 2 • • ••••• •••••••14

Celtis philippensis fruit 3 ••••• ••• • ••••••• •17

Cochlospermum fraseri roots 1,2,3 • • • • • • • • 8

Commelina ensifolia roots 2 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 16

Corymbia polycarpa seeds 3 • •••• • • • • • •11

Crinum angustifolium roots 1 • • •4

Cucumis melo fruit 2 • • • •4

Curculigo ensifolia roots 2 • 1

Curculigo ensifolia

var. ensifolia

roots 2 •1

Cycas basaltica seeds 1 • 1

Cymbidium canaliculatum 3• 1

Cynanchum pedunculatum 2,3 • • • • • 5

Cyperus bulbosus roots 2,3 • • • • • • • • • 9

Dendrophthoe acacioides fruit 2 ••2

Species Food use Ref ADO AUG BIG BOO BYM COR DAR HID KAT KIN LAC LON MAR MOS NWM SGM STA STO SUN SWO UNN UWI WAG WUL Sum

ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS, VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN KIMBERLEY ISLANDS 167

Dendrophthoe acacioides

var. acacioides

nectar 3 • • • • • 5

Dioscorea bulbifera roots 1,2,3,5 • • • • • • • • • • • • 12

Dioscorea transversa roots 1,2,5 • • • • • • • • • • • • 12

Ehretia saligna fruit 3 • • •3

Eleocharis dulcis roots 1,2,3 • 1

Eriosema chinense roots 2 • 1

Eucalyptus miniata seeds 3 •••• •• • •• • •• •13

Exocarpos latifolius fruit 3 ••• •••• •• •••• • •• 16

Ficus aculeata fruit 1 •••• •• ••• •10

Ficus aculeata var. indecora fruit • ••• ••••••••• 13

Ficus atricha fruit • • • • • • • • • • • • 12

Ficus brachypoda fruit • • • • • • • • 8

Ficus opposita fruit 2,3 • • 2

Ficus platypoda fruit 1,2 •• ••• •••••10

Ficus subpuberula fruit •1

Ficus virens fruit 3 •