Name: オーストラリア北部のアボリジニの水の価値と管理 (Aboriginal water values and management in northern Australia)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T04:51:05.000Z
Duration: 14 min 17 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

My country is Malfiyin, near the Daly River in the Northern Territory.

This story is about our rivers and our bush tucker.

-- it gets people out on country, it is healthy for us and makes us feel good.

Collecting bush tucker heals our spirit and teaches young people about country and culture.

Christina Yambeing - "Dad used to tell us stories, about Dreamtime stories or

"about our country, you know. Mum used to tell us stories about her dreaming.

"We used to take that fish net over to the creek when there were lots of fish."

The Mabo decision in 1992 means that our customary laws are now recognized.

This means that our use of land and water is protected.

But when decisions about water are being made, we are often not included.

Those rivers, creeks and billabongs are important to us.

We rely on those places for food and medicines.

Other people say they need water for their businesses such as farming and cattle,

but no one has really talked to us about how important those water places

Dr Jackson - "Well the National Water Policy of 2004, the National Water Initiative its called,

"for the first time in Australia's history recognised the importance of water

"And it actually urges Australian State governments to include Aboriginal people in water planning,

"to understand their water use requirements

"and to consider the impacts of water use decisions

"on their societies, their economies and their culture."

Dr Jackson - "We haven't had a lot of information about how people use aquatic environments.

"We haven't had a lot of information about the value of those environments to Aboriginal people

"and there's been very little understanding of the way in which

"changes to water use and water management in a wider Australia may affect Aboriginal people."

So CSIRO, as part of the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge Research Program,

looked at how changing water uses may affect my community in the Daly,

as well as communities in the Fitzroy River in Western Australia.

Pippa Featherston - "So you went somewhere Saturday?"

Emma Woodward - "So it's really about building relationships and trust from the beginning

"and that drive came from the indigenous communities themselves."

Eighty-two households were interviewed eight times a year.

People were asked about when they went fishing or hunting,

Benigna Ngulfundi - "Barramundi, Pig nosed Turtle, Catfish."

The researchers also wanted to know about country and the seasons.

Biddy Lindsay - "That one Christmas come. This one year round for eating.

"This one year round like that one in the billabong."

Seasonal calendars were made with four different language groups.

They are based on Aboriginal knowledge of the plants and animals harvested

Emma -"Where do you get that one from Biddy?"

This information was collected to get a better picture

of how and when food is collected during the year,

and how we read the different signs of animals and plants.

Sue - "In the middle of the dry season, we've got

"people going out and catching 5 turtles at a time."

Miriam-Rose Baumann - "Non-indigenous people have four seasons. We,

"and the best time is the Dry Season for when you go and hunt and forage for these

"things that are in the water, or billabongs or the creeks."

My calendar - the 'Ngan'gi Seasons' - was the first.

It follows the life stages of Wurr mui, the local spear Grass.

Patricia McTaggart - "From the time like, from the new shoot up to

"All in between that cycle of the spear grass, we hunt like,

When the Wurr mui stalks start to die and turn a reddish colour,

Agurri, the black rock kangaroo sings the wind from the east.

The wind brings the dragonfly who tells you it's a good time for Freshwater Prawn and barramundi.

Patricia - "When the wind from that direction coming,

"then we know it's time to go and look for barramundi.

"As soon as that happens we can feel it telling us Dry Seasons here, you know.

"And we see signs like dragonflies coming

"the same time as the wind and its telling us that

"the Dry Season is here and there's going to be a bit more fish in the river."

As the billabong levels drop during the Dry Season, plants can be collected along the edges.

These include Minimindi, the Waterlily; Miwulngini, the Lotus Lily

This is also the time for Mibuymadi, the Bush Banana and Migerum, the Native Peanut.

Biddy - "...and you brush them up, finish,  take them out and eat them like nut, peanut. Yeah.

"This one, medicine for pneumonia and all that."

Red Kapok flowers tell us that Freshwater Crocodiles have laid their eggs

tells us Bull Sharks are fat and ready to be hunted in the rivers.

it is much easier to collect mussels and crabs from the banks of billabongs and creeks.

Miriam-Rose - "...and it's not just the things that live in the water.

"There are other things that are growing by the banks. Stuff like berries and plums and bulbs

"and it's because of, you know, after the rain

"there's other things that are growing around the river banks as well and in the billabongs."

By the Late Dry Season, most of our hunting trips are to the billabongs.

As the water levels drop, the muddy banks are exposed.

Plenty of Long-necked Turtles can be found hibernating under the mud.

Long-necked Turtles are our favourite food.

They make up over half of the food we collect in the Daly River.

Researchers compared the value of our bush foods, such as turtle,

If farming were to change the way the river flows there could be less animals to hunt,

and it would cost our families a lot more to buy food.