NITMILUK NATIONAL PARK
Birding-Aussers may be aware of the recent 20th anniversary of the
Indigenous takeover of Nitmiluk Gorge, near Katherine, NT. I was contracted
to reach Indigenous rangers about birds and ecology for this park back in
the late 1980s. This project involved both DEET and the NT Conservation
Commission.
It was a contract ringed in controversy from the start. Bruce Weribone, the
Indigenous supervisor and supervisor and John Fletcher, the Aboriginal
liaison officer, asked me to train the rangers, one reason being that we
(the Jawoyn and I) were related. But Ron, the head of the Katherine office,
was opposed. My employment, he told Bruce and John, ³would be detrimental
to the values of the Conservation Commission holds dear².
Ron's attitude stemmed from my employment as a biological consultant at the
Mt Todd gold mine north of Katherine. He wasn't the only one to hold such
views about those who worked for mining companies. The Con Comm
ornithologist he wished to employ later called myself and Brett Lane who was
in charge of the consultancy, the ³anti-greenies² and made disparaging
remarks to us and our field assistants. Some of them, honours students from
Victoria, could hardly believe what they were hearing.
When specimens of grasses I couldn't identify went missing after I sent them
to the herbarium, another scientist who should have known better, accused me
of not carrying out a proper survey. He also wrote that I¹d misidentified
Grey-fronted Honeyeater, a bird also recorded from the area by John McKean.
The opposition to us became farce when the Director of Con Comm told Brett
and me that ³nuclear weapons² would be used to blast the pit, and added that
the study of Gouldian Finches would have to cease because of the radiation!
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the state that scientific inquiry
had reached in the NT.
The ranger training program was given much publicity not least because a
famous television identity was also employed to train the rangers. He was
to handle the ³bush tucker² side of things, while I was to teach birds and
ecology. However, on first meeting with the 13 or so rangers, I realised
that these topics would not be the top priority. These rangers would have
to address visitors to the Gorge, and they were too shy. I took along my
son Rowan, then four, as backup icebreaker.
After some preliminary instruction in a classroom aimed as much at sizing
up the students' knowledge and command of English, we set off for our camp
in the bush near Edith Falls, north of Katherine. There were thirteen
students, men and women. Bruce, an ex-military man, had trained them very
well. Many were from town camps without running water or electricity and
yet, somehow these people managed to turn up at his office every morning in
clean, pressed uniforms. They set up the camp very efficiently and soon had
Rowan and myself peeling potatoes for dinner.
That afternoon we set off for a walk through the bush. I pointed out fauna
and flora as we went along, and repeatedly asked questions of the rangers.
But nobody answered they were all too shy. Coming upon a plant I knew
they knew, I insisted upon an answer, and after much persistence, got one.
Grewia retusifolia was known as Djodmot. Okay, what was the balanda name.
At this the students began to giggle. After more persistence on my part,
they told me. This bush tucker plant with its little twinned black fruit
was called ³dog's balls².
³So you eat ³dog's balls², I replied. That broke everyone up. ³No,² was
the reply. ³But we eat bull's balls²! And so the first ice was broken.
To give the students confidence in addressing others I ran role playing
exercises, with each in turn acting the part of ranger and the others
tourists. The speaker had to organise information from birds we'd seen or
caught in mist nets, plants we had gathered, or whatever. Here my
background in community work and counselling came in very handy.
The students, including the son of the most powerful leader in the area at
that time, Mr. Lee, later told both Bruce and the elders that my course was
³hot shit², a compliment I will always treasure. They weren't so enamoured
of the bush tucker expert who, according to Mr. Lee, treated the students as
it they were ignorant. They didn't want him back, but Mr. Lee asked me to
return to finish training the rangers. And this I really wanted to do.
Knowing how important a knowledge of birds, for instance, would be, I wanted
to make sure that the rangers would be as well prepared as possible. Senior
staff at the Dept of Education told me how ³impressed² they were with my
work and so it looked to be a possibility that I'd return.
But it wasn't to be, for soon after Bruce told me the program was to fold ,
one reason being the Con Comm saw its job as ³looking after wildlife² not
³training² people. Bruce was so worried for his students that he made
himself ill. He had lived for his students, nursing them through family
issues, problems with alcohol. He accompanied them to AA meetings. Over the
months he had got to know, and win the trust of, their families.
So I wrote to the Minister for Conservation, Steve Hatton, telling him that
if the program was dropped the Con Comm might lose the confidence of the
Jawoyn. Steve assured me that the program was set to continue, but the
signs were ominous. On meeting naturalist Harry Butler, who was on the
board of Con Com I told him that the program was under threat. He found
that hard to believe. Three months later the program had folded, and
despite all the fine words about my work from DEET and the Dept of
Education, I was never employed again in that capacity.
It was worse for the student rangers - only three of those wonderful young
men and women were employed by Con Comm. One approached me in tears, asking
me to employ him. But I now had no work myself. Others turned to alcohol
at least two ended up in jail, and a third, one of the most promising,
died, apparently because of alcohol. Worried about Bruce, I suggested he
leave which he did, returning to Queensland, his home state and working in
the park service there. Those students, and Bruce are often in my
thoughts. The NT Con Comm lost one of its finest when he left, and
certainly the best Indigenous trainer I'd ever known.
Bruce is now Indigenous adviser to Santos. We caught up with each other a
few weeks ago, after a gap of many years. And we hope to work together
again one day.
As for Nitmiluk Gorge, occasionally international operators ask me to take
clients there. But the young Jawoyn men running the boats know little of
the wildlife, including the birds (such as Chestnut-quilled Rock-pigeon).
Furthermore, the information they give out is pretty superficial it
certainly doesn¹t satisfy the well-educated, well-travelled people I guide,
and so if I can get out of taking clients there, I do. It could have been
so different.
--
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 3460 NT 0832, AUSTRALIA
Ph. 61 08 89 328306
Mobile: 04 386 50 835
Birdwatching and Indigenous tourism consultant
PhD Candidate
Research survey:
For American birders -
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=h3NCqTwur3H_2bPlbFtk_2bSpw_3d_3d
For UK and other birders
-http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=adx6k4cK_2fqMWzw79jmrmzg_3d_3d
http://www.denisegoodfellow.com.au
http://www.earthfoot.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baby-dreaming
http://www.ausbird.com
http://birderstravel.com
http://www.theloveofood.com (Rowan Goodfellow Thompson)
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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