ngurrarawarnti wulyu martarnupurru 2012–2022 keeping our country healthy Warning: This plan may contain images, names and references to deceased Aboriginal people. The Ngurrarawarnti Wulyu Martarnupurru 2012 – 2022 — Ngurrara Healthy Country Plan 2012 – 2022 was prepared for Yununijarra Aboriginal Corporation by: Ngurrara Traditional Owners and Frank Weisenberger (KLC). The information presented in all the maps and figures herein reflects Traditional Owner views. Design and layout: Jane Lodge Mapping: Kim Lukehurst Citation: Yununijarra Aboriginal Corporation (2012): The Ngurrarawarnti Wulyu Martarnupurru 2012-2022 — Ngurrara Healthy Country Plan 2012–2022 The Ngurrarawarnti Wulyu Martrnupurru 2012–2022 has been developed with support from the Kimberley Land Council and the Australian Governments IPA Program. © All traditional and cultural knowledge in this plan is the cultural and intellectual property of Ngurrara Traditional Owners and is published with the consent of Yununijarra Aboriginal Corporation. Written consent from Yununijarra Aboriginal Corporation must be obtained for use of any material. Any unauthorised use is a serious breach of the customary Ngurrara law and may also breach the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Contents NGURRARA Story of the Warlu Jilajaa Jumu IPA ............................................... 2 Appendix 1: Walmajarri words .....................................................39 Ngurrara people ............................................................................. 4 Appendix 2: Nested targets / matters of significance ...............40 Ngurrara country ............................................................................ 6 Map index Vision .............................................................................................. 8 Map 1: Location of Ngurrara country ..................................7 Ngurrara targets ............................................................................. 9 Map 2: Freshwater places/Canning Stock Route wells ...13 Ngurrara Law and culture ..................................................10 Map 3: Cultural and heritage places .................................15 Jila, Jumu and other freshwater places ............................12 Map 4: Fire frequency ........................................................17 Cultural and heritage places..............................................14 Map 5: Habitats/vegetation classes .................................19 Right way fire .......................................................................16 Bush meats/native animals ..............................................18 Figure Index Bush tucker plants/medicine plants .................................20 Figure 1: The Ngurrara canvas ............................................5 Health of our targets ....................................................................22 Figure 2: Ngurrara seasonal calendar ..............................21 Main threats .................................................................................24 Kurlku country Table Index Climate change ...................................................................26 Table 1: Health of our targets/viability table ....................23 Feral animals ......................................................................27 Table 2: Main threats .........................................................25 Wrong way fire .....................................................................28 Table 3: Management strategies .......................................36 Lack of access to country ..................................................29 Insufficient resources for land management....................30 Weeds ..................................................................................31 Mining/water extraction .....................................................32 Lack of cultural programs in mainstream education .......33 Visitors not being respectful/uncontrolled visitor access 34 Enhancing viability — mitigating threats .....................................35 Objectives ............................................................................35 Strategies ............................................................................36 Governance and implementation ..............................................37 Monitoring and evaluation .................................................37 Kurlku country References / abbreviations .........................................................38 KEEPING OUR COUNTRY HEALTHY 1 Story of the Warlu Jilajaa Jumu IPA NGURRARA Our Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), the Warlu Jilajaa Jumu IPA, was We are happy when we come back to our traditional lands to visit declared in November 2007 when our Ngurrara Native Title Claim places. We have a strong feeling that the land welcomes us when we was successfully determined by the High Court of Australia. The IPA are back on country. covers 1.6 million hectares of our country Our Warlu Jilajaa Jumu IPA in the north-west of Western Australia’s is managed in line with Great Sandy Desert. Warlu is the fire for hunting we use to keep the land clean the International Union Jilaa is our permanent water — where we lived The Warlu Jilajaa Jumu IPA is named after for Conservation of Jumu is the temporary water — that dries up later in the year the fire we use to keep the land healthy Amy Nugget — Ngurnta — Ngurrara Traditional Owner Nature (IUCN) Category V (warlu), and the permanent waterholes — Protected Landscape/ (jila or ‘living water’) and seasonal soaks Seascape: Protected Area (jumu) that are the important sources of water. managed mainly for landscape conservation and recreation. Our Entrance to Warlu Jilajaa Jumu IPA Rangers look after country in accordance with our Healthy Country When we first got back to our country on trips in 2007 it was difficult Plan “Ngurrarawarnti Wulyu Martarnupurru 2012–2022” for us to find the places our old people talked about when they left the country in the 1960s. With no people on country to look after it, many places were overgrown by trees and grasses. There was no water visible at our traditional water places. We had to dig to When I talk to young people they say we all grew up on find water again. other people’s country. When we were older we found out Since then our Rangers and Traditional Owners have done a lot where our country is. Having knowledge of places I was of work to look after our country. When we go back now, country born and raised in has been very important. In the future my vision is to live in our own country and continue to looks much better: Patches of green native grasses and trees look after it as we were taught. Going back with our own are growing around our jilas and animals are coming back in Rangers is very important. Knowing were our parents higher numbers. came from — that gives us our power and strengthens us. Annette Kogolo — Puruta Wayawu — Ngurrara Traditional Owner Handover at Lake Pirnini 2 NGURRARAWARNTI WULYU MARTARNUPURRU 2012 – 2022 Story of the Warlu Jilajaa Jumu IPA NGURRARA Declared IPA at Lake Pirnini KEEPING OUR COUNTRY HEALTHY 3 Ngurrara people NGURRARA Ngurrara means home, the place that we “have a feeling for.” people and their country. Ngurrara people are jila people. These jila There are four major language groups within the Ngurrara people places are the defining features that spread across the landscape - Walmajarri, Wangkatjungka, Juwaliny, and Mangala. The name of of the canvas. They are places where events took place in the the IPA, Warlu Jilajaa Jumu, comes from the Walmajarri language. Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming), where ancestral men who moved around There are also many family groups within the Ngurrara people, and the desert changed themselves into snakes and came to rest in each family group is responsible for a particular part of our country. the waterholes. They remain there, keeping watch over the country, keeping places safe for their countrymen and infusing the desert We lived on our country for a long time and only left in the 1960s. with order. Some of our old people still remember their first contact with white people when they walked out of the desert on the Canning Stock Route Traditional Owners near Kaningarra Nowadays we live in the nearby communities Country is too far. Every time we walked up a sand dune, the of Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Mulan, country was still far away. Then we had to turn back, running out Balgo, Bayulu, Port Headland, Jigalong, of fuel, tucker and water. Punmu and Bidyadanga. Some of us want Ned Cox — Ngurrara Traditional Owner to go back to live on our country. Others describing how difficult it is to get back to country. only want to visit our traditional lands and take trips out to our country. Our Rangers have set up a Ranger base at Djugerari, so that it is easier to go out bush, reach places further out in the desert and pass on our traditional knowledge. In preparation for the Ngurrara Native Title claim, the idea to use a painting as evidence in court was born (please refer to figure 1). Ngurrara artists painted the story of Ngurrara Youth on a back-to-country trip Digging out a waterhole on Kurlku country 4 NGURRARAWARNTI WULYU MARTARNUPURRU 2012 – 2022 Figure 1: The Ngurrara canvas The Ngurrara canvas depicts Ngurrara country with its jilas, jumus and jiljis. Painted by Ngurrara Artists and claimants, coordinated by Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency, May 1997. KEEPING OUR COUNTRY HEALTHY 5 Ngurrara country NGURRARA Ngurrara country covers approximately