Upper Murrumbidgee: Oral History of Adrian Brown
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1511' target='_blank'>Places of significance</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/581' target='_blank'>Community cooperation</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/280' target='_blank'>Land custodianship</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/255' target='_blank'>Aboriginal culture</a>
<a href='http://indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au/communities/wiradjuri-0' target='_blank'>Wiradjuri people</a>
<a href='http://indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au/communities/Walgalu' target='_blank'>Walgalu / Walgal people</a>
<a href='http://indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au/communities/ngarigu#' target='_blank'>Ngarigo / Ngarigu people</a>
<a href='http://indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au/communities/Ngunawal' target='_blank'>Ngunawal / Ngunnawal people
</a>
<a href='http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/kurnai.htm' target='_blank'>Kurnai / Gunai people</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/2955' target='_blank'>Burial sites</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/6865' target='_blank'>Sacred sites</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2003006652' target='_blank'>Traditional ecological knowledge</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/15435' target='_blank'>Connection to Country</a>
An interview in five parts with Adrian Brown.
Adrian talks about growing up along the River (around Queanbeyan River, Jumping Creek, and Wanna Wanna Creek) and the way that he and his brother learnt the land by walking it and fishing the river with their Dad. He talks about historical sites and significant sites; expressing continuity with Country; making Coolamons; the significance of Country; traditional ceremony; initiation rites; right of passage; the duty of care for different animals as part of an interconnected environment; and recognising law and responsibility for Country. He also discusses the interaction and movements of peoples along the catchment (relaying the history of the Ngunawal and their responsibility to the Murrumbidgee corridor and their relation to coastal peoples); trading; and shared vocabulary across language groups from the top of the Murrumbidgee to Lakes Entrance.
Adrian covers the effects of housing developments on cultural practice; weeds; variance in fish population according to river flow; lighting fires; cultural burns; site management; discrimination; ignorance; and work with the ACT government to promote the recognition and understanding of Indigenous Australian interests.
Adrian also shares his experience as an Aboriginal Liaison Officer with the ACT National Parks and Wildlife Service and his sense of pride and belonging. He talks about efforts to refocus the connection to Country of Indigenous Australians employed as rangers, and to promote a cultural mindfulness among them. He speculates how Indigenous people could again be welcomed by the Ngunawal as National Parks officers - all learning and walking the land together.
Adrian discusses how fish travel up the river when it floods; mixing traditional and modern fishing methods; sources of sediment (sand from Tharwa, dirt from Cooma, Bredbo and Numeralla Rivers); clay baking fish; mussels (saltwater and freshwater); abalone; native plants.
Heather Goodall
Jodi Frawley
University of Technology, Sydney
2010-10-05
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
NSW Department of Primary Industries - NSW Fisheries
Copyright University of Technology, Sydney
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Katarapko: Oral History of Kingsley Abdulla
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008120678' target='_blank'>Fishing--Australia</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/4994' target='_blank'>Salinity</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/9113' target='_blank'>Indigenous medicine</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/2955' target='_blank'>Burial sites</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/5257' target='_blank'>Wetlands</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85039493' target='_blank'>Dredging</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh96006425' target='_blank'>Introduced fishes</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/5366' target='_blank'>Droughts</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2007102025' target='_blank'>Birds--Identification</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048775' target='_blank'>Fishes--Identification</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048753' target='_blank'>Fishes--effect of water levels on</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/5397' target='_blank'>Erosion</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2001008903' target='_blank'>Spawning</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2003006652' target='_blank'>Traditional ecological knowledge</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/973' target='_blank'>Water quality</a>
An interview in three parts with Kingsley Abdulla.
Kingsley is from the Gerard Aboriginal community in South Australia. Born in 1971, he has always lived on the river; camping with family and extended family, a time for Elders to educate the younger generations about Country. Kingsley shares his knowledge of a changing and interconnected landscape.
Kingsley talks about: teaching family to swim and fish; yabbying methods; a period when Catfish species were rare; salinity (water and ground table) issues and low water levels; lack of ‘decent’ floods; Aboriginal grave sites and culture, native bushes, and native vegetables impacted by environmental degradation (e.g. traditional medicinal methods); the role of wetlands and back creeks (backwaters) as nurseries for all animals; the impact of Willow tree removal on Murray Cod and Callop; different types of soil in the area; changes observed in water colour; hybrid knowledge systems (incorporating Western into Aboriginal), and the desire to learn from each other. Also mentioned: snake species; water birds; vegetation; Crown Land.
Indigenous terms for fish species discussed:
Murray cod - Gadu, Pondi’s Gadu;
Yellowbelly - Thaigai; Pilaki
Catfish - Gaigai;
Bony bream: Thukeri
Silver Bream - Tookaree;
Silver Perch - Bungi.
One of the images in the collection includes a book called 'Tucker' by Ian Abdulla (1947-2011). It is a children's illustrated book about an Aboriginal boy who grows up along the Murray River, when bush tucker was plentiful.
Heather Goodall
Jodi Frawley
University of Technology, Sydney
2010-10-30
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
NSW Department of Primary Industries - NSW Fisheries
Copyright University of Technology, Sydney
Book image attribution: Abdulla, Ian W. (1994). Tucker. Norwood, South Australia Omnibus Books <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11404164">see details...</a>
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