Some of the highlights of the AGTA conference were listening to the experiences of some of the teachers from the NT – Ian Morris OAM and Steve Hawkins in particular, but also several others who I had informal conversations with. There’s lots to learn from them about working with their communities, developing better cultural understanding and providing more inclusive educational experiences. Particularly interesting was the concept of "bothways" - schooling systems working together Yolnu communities to implement bilingual pedagogy, cultural knowledge transmission and parental and community engagement. Below is an article from the Australian Journal of Indigenous Education - "Renewing the Yolnu "Bothways" philosophy: Warramiri transcultural education at Gawa. Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document. Our Geographical Secrets – Ian Morris Ian was the first Science teacher in Arnhem Land, where he began as a 19 year old, working with the local community on an island off Arnhem Land coast. Ian spoke about information he had been taught over many years from David Burrumarra, a senior Yolnu mentor, about the social and cultural impacts of historical sea level rise off the coast of Arnhem land. Sahul refers to the combined Pleistocene landmass of Australia and New Guinea. The Pleistocene was a time when sea levels were lower, and an extensive area of the northwest of Australia was exposed. This area included an inland sea and large freshwater lake. There were fluctuating sea levels, and two periods of rapid sea level rise, resulting in the rapid drowning of around half of the Northwest Shelf, transformed coastlines, and offshore island geographies. The changing sea levels and changing landscapes affected migration patterns – when sea levels were low, people could travel more easily. The gap between Timor and Sahul was reduced down to 90 metres. The period of the last rapid sea level rise around 4000 years ago when it reached our present sea level, was the topic of much of Ian’s presentation. The physical sea level rise, and the drowning of habitable areas had very obvious social impacts and cultural changes for local communities – physical displacement, social upheaval and a change of diet. Historical knowledge of these changes in sea level is found in oral history of over thousands of years old. Ian worked with and learnt from the Warramiri people, who shared some of their oral history with him and their association with the ‘Freshwater Ocean’. The clan group was pushed off the coastal plains, off traditional country into other peoples' country, and had to live off the coastline as they didn’t have hunting rights. This also occurred for many other clan groups. The clan group told of how they lived on the shores of a freshwater island east of Elcho Island, and that saltwater inundation forced them to move inland, westward and to higher ground. Oral accounts describe that in some locations the water rose so quickly there was no time for preparation. The new sites they moved into were equivalent to “refugee camps”. This was the result of sea level rise from the last glacial melt. Changes to sea levels in the region is also recorded in detail in a variety of other ways, for example species found in rock art of the Warramiri in caves and overhangs of the Arnhem coastline include stingrays, surgeonfish, whale, octopus and clams. Shell middens also provide evidence of occupation in particular sites – some 4000-8000 years BP and up to 9 metres deep. Work is being done to date the middens as some of the older parts are disintegrating. As the sea level rose, freshwater creeks became tidal forests, mangrove seeds floated further inland and took root, and as the saltwater moved further inland, marine life followed – particularly sharks and stingrays (best eaten when they are “fat” with swollen livers – an excellent source of omega three oil). Mangroves are an important location for finding food and species like mangrove worms, and shellfish kept communities alive and were an important source of protein. Cycads were an important food source (once detoxified). There is also evidence of communities planting food - wild tomatoes, portulacca, toothache tree, bush potatoes, bush peanuts, black plum, wild almonds, as well as finger sop (fruit brought here by the Macassins from Indonesia). Sea level changes caused enormous social upheaval, and there is also evidence of conflict in locations where communities were forced into higher ground along new coastlines. Most community groups along the coastlines would have lost their entire territory and been pushed into neighbouring communities’ land. Evidence of conflict between groups is seen in battle scenes in rock art in some of these areas, and in their mythology. Slowly social stability returned as their children married out into mainland clans.
Listen to: Naturalist Ian Morris talks snakes, crocs and adventures in Arnhem Land on ABC Radio Darwin.
Watch: Tales from the Territory from ABC Darwin. (you will need to log into Facebook to view the video).
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I’ve had an amazing week in Darwin for the 2024 Australia Geography Teachers Association conference. I highly recommend attending the national conferences for Geography teachers at all levels of experience. The 2026 conference location should be announced soon. Prior to the conference I visited Kakadu National Park for the first time in 25 years. Still amazing. As part of the tour we visited Nourlangie, Yellow River, Ubirr, Cahill’s Crossing and Arnhem Land, and were lucky enough to do a quick flight over the park. What a privilege. Below is a gallery of photos of some of the Aboriginal artwork seen at Ubirr and Nourlangie. There are some sites which are open to tourists and which we can view and photograph, and other sites which are off limits to visitors and/or which tourists are not allowed to photograph. All of the photos below are at sites open to the public and which we were allowed to photograph. Some of these sites provide locational and environmental information, and many have spiritual, historical and social meaning and are used to record and pass on information. There is a lot of signage at these sites to provide the publicly available explanations of the rock art, some information about Aboriginal names for places, concepts and objects.. My favourite site was at Ubirr where there was an immense rock shelf with a huge amount of intricate paintings. As well as the amazing cultural experiences, Kakadu also has a huge range of animal life to see. The crocodiles are pretty awe-inspiring, but there is also so much bird life around. Below is a series of photos - some on the Yellow river, and then East Alligator River near Cahill's Crossing and further upstream near Arnhem land, which we traversed on the Guluyambi Cultural Cruise. This cruise was led by an Aboriginal guide who shared information about local mythology, culture, traditional uses of plants and animals and ecology. The birdlife on the Yellow River cruise was really varied - my favourite was the Jabiru - a bird that looks like it is straight out of Alice in Wonderland, and grows to 140cm tall. I remember using Kakadu as a case study as a beginning teacher, but I don't think I have used it that many times since then. It would really make a great case study in a range of different topics, and provides an excellent opportunity to incorporate authentic and meaningful information about Aboriginal culture and perspectives in a way that fits so naturally with concepts around environmental management, physical characteristics of environments and human use and ingenuity.
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