Biodiversity Buzz and Nursery News

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1 Girringun Newsletter Girringun Aboriginal Corporation PO Box Victoria St Cardwell Phone: Fax: Website: Octobe r 2013 Biodiversity Buzz and Nursery News The Girringun Biodiversity Project is now in its second year, and we have already outgrown our little nursery site in Cardwell. We have so many plants ready to be planted in the Wet Season in our proposed revegetation sites at Warrami (Girramay), Tully Heads (Gulnay), Jalum (Jirrbal), Mungalla (Nywaigi)and Wongaling Beach (Djiru country). We have just received our next lot of funding from The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities to build a bigger nursery to further expand our nursery and revegetation projects. As Girringun does not have the capital to purchase property, the nursery will be situated on land which is leased for the purpose of running the Girringun Nursery for the life of the project (another three and a half years) and possibly into the future (if we can make it viable). We have been looking into a number of possible sites for the nursery within Girringun country. We have been in discussions with Jumbun Community and the Indigenous Land Corporation to construct a nursery on Jumbun Community land. The Jumbun site has been chosen as it is on Aboriginal land and an Aboriginal community. The Biodiversity Team are very excited about working with the Jumbun Community to create and run a bigger and better native plant nursery to supply our revegetation projects, grow bushfood and medicine plants, native garden plants and plants to beautify and enhance our local environment. The Girringun Nursery crew Jean, Abe, Daniel and myself, headed up to the Tablelands last week to visit other native plant nurseries in the area for ideas on nursery designs and construction. We visited the Tablelands Regional Council Nursery, the QPWS Lake Eachem Nursery, the Envirocare Nursery in Kuranda and a commercial native plant nursery called Yuruga at Walkamin. This was a great opportunity to see various nursery designs and discuss with nursery managers and workers what works well in their nurseries. We have come back with lots of inspiration and we are now working together on a design for the new Girringun Nursery. We would also like to invite all Girringun Members to submit a logo design for the Girringun Nursery. The design must be related to native plants and you must be happy for Girringun to use this logo for our uniforms, letterheads, signage and promotional material. We need to receive all design entries by the 20 December. The Girringun Board will choose the best and most appropriate design at the Board meeting in January. The winner of the best design will receive a one-of artists fee of $150 for their design and enter into an agreement which gives the Girringun Nursery the right to use the design for all nursery purposes for the life of the Nursery. You must also enter into a contract to give Girringun the rights to the image. We have also just completed a book about the cultural use of plants by the nine tribes represented by Girringun entitled Wabu Jananyu. This book aims to be an important reference book for the Girringun Rangers on country and for all Girringun members. These books are available to Girringun members for free and will also be sold to the public for $35. The money from the sales of the book will go back into the nursery and into the production of a second edition of the book. If you would like a copy, please contact Nina at Girringun and I will send you one!

2 Madjal Cocky Apply (Planchonia careya) The Cocky Apples or Madjal (in Warrgamay, Girramay and Jirrbal languages) in the Cardwell area are in bloom now. The flowers are made up of many spikey stamens, red at the base and grading to white at the tips and most often opening in the evening, falling to the ground by the next morning. These flowers will be followed by egg shaped green fruits which contain one woody, fibrous seed. The fruit is edible raw and the bark of the tree is used to stupefy fish in waterholes. It is also eaten by black cockatoos. The Madjal tree is a small tree growing 4-10m and drops all of its leaves in the dry season. This tree is found in Northern Australia south to Fraser Island. Jinbarr White Apple, Flaky Satinash (Syzygium forte) In areas close to the beach, the big glossy leaved Jinbarr trees are blooming with creamy, white flowers arranged in big bouquets. The flowers attract birds, bats and all sorts of insects to feed on the nectar of the flowers. The tree has bronze papery bark and grows into a big shady tree. In January-February, the flowers will be followed by large round or oval shaped fruits which are edible. The White Apple grows from sea level to 450m in well developed rainforest, but most often in beach forest. It occurs in North Queensland to Cape York, also Papua New Guniea. Fruit is eaten by cassowaries and the tree is strong and can withstand strong winds. Jinbarr is the Girramay/Jirrbal/Gulnay name for the White Appletree.

3 Ranger News Below is a summary of some of the tasks the rangers and I have completed over the last month. Dolphin Surveys with Isabel Beasley from James Cook University were completed in the Hinchinbrook Channel and Rockingham Bay. Dolphins in our area are the Snubfin Dolphin, Indo-Pacific Dolphin and Bottlenose Dolphin. Above : Snubfin Dolphin Above: Indo-Pacific Dolphin Completed the construction of picnic tables at Spa Pool swimming area at the back of Cardwell. Controlled Burns with QPWS Broadwater SF, Old Cardwell Rd, Clump Pt, Jumbun, and Murray Falls Installation of camera traps at Ellerbeck State Forest and other sites, relating to John Winters Project Design for monitoring Mahogany Gliders Lilly Creek. Johnson River Turtle survey work with QPWS Alistair Freeman Above: Simon Smallwood, Alistair Freeman and Whitney Rassip. Above : John Suhra

4 GIRRINGUN ARTS Bagu on the Cardwell Foreshore Three large bagu are now permanently installed on the Cardwell Foreshore at the southern end of town. The three imposing sculptures stand like sentinels against the backdrop of Rockingham Bay and Hinchinbrook Island and realise a long held desire by Traditional Owners to publicly demonstrate the uniqueness and vitality of Rainforest culture for all to see. Based on the bagu designs of Eileen Tep and Charlotte Beeron, both artists represented by the Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre, these bagu were inspired by the traditional fire-making tools of the rainforest people of North Queensland. Placed so that they look out to sea and back inland they conjure up a different time and way of living. A time when life and the tools of life were interdependant with the environment and the resources it provided. Taught by her mother and father, Eileen Tep continues to make Bagu in the traditional manner as well as the more contemporary works. The traditional bagu are only painted with design on one side but these large bagu were painted both sides so that made it harder as we tried to match both sides, artist Eileen Tep said. The sides are still not exactly the same but we love that. We are proud of what we did. It was important for the artists that their work was supported by Girramay Elder Claude Beeron. Uncle Claude came over to look at the bagu once we had got started, Charlotte said. For us it was a privilege to have an Elder come and look at our work. He was excited about what we were doing. He s known us since we were small. Created over a two month period from original designs by Eileen and Charlotte, the bagu were adapted to fibreglass by a specialist mould maker and then hand painted by Eileen and Charlotte. Suspended upside down to enable all round access, painting the larger than life size bagu proved to be a challenge for both artists. It was difficult for us but by the time we got to the last one we knew what we were doing, Charlotte Beeron said. We were learning as we were doing it. These were made from different material to what we normally use and we didn t know how to work with it in the beginning. We were working under cover outside and there were showers coming in all the time and when the rain came we had to stop. Then there was the wind it helped us get the paint dry but it was cold. The Bagu sculptures are about history, the past and the present. They represent a culture which is alive and engaging with new ideas, always with a strong connection to tradition. This Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre project was financed by the Cassowary Coast Regional Council as part of the Cardwell Foreshore Recovery Program. Girramay Elder Claude Beeron provided cultural advice for Eileen Tep and Charlotte Beeron during the Bagu on the Cardwell Foreshore Project. Custodians: Three large Bagu now stand on the Cardwell Foreshore, shown here with artists Charlotte Beeron (left) and Eileen Tep.

5 Abe Muriata - in WA Indigenous Art Awards Abe Muriata is represented as one of 16 artists Australia wide in the WA Indigenous Art Awards currently on display at the WA Art Gallery in Perth. Shortlisted from 100 entrants Abe travelled to Perth for the opening of the exhibition and the awards ceremony. To be chosen from such a vast sea of talent was a privilege for me, Girramay Traditional Owner and artist Abe Muriata said. The whole experience was beyond my experience. The people who support and appreciate our work - it is not just a passing thing. They gave us travel money to get here from Queensland and put us up in the finest hotel. By doing this, they are saying: This is beautiful art and we appreciate it. This trip has also made me better understand why all the artists at Girringun are so widely regarded and that their work is as good as anyone else s. Dress Circle: Abe Muriata (right) with fellow artist and award winner Cairns based Brian Robinson (left) and Clotilde Bullen, Curator of Indigenous Art, WA Art Gallery. Abe appreciated having the chance to meet and talk to other artists participating in the award, to see their work and to learn more about what art means to a variety of people, the artists, the critics, the gallery staff and the audiences. To be able to meet the other artists helps you understand the background of the people and places reflected in the art we see, in the desert, the sea, the Torres Strait, the city and then there is me from the Wet Tropics of Queensland. Girringun TUMRA Hunters Forum, Stradbroke Island (11-13 November 2013) A Traditional Hunters Forum is being organised by the Indigenous Sea Country Community Strategic Policy Group (ISCSPG). Traditional Hunters from the Gulf, Cape York, North/Central and Southern Qld have been invited to attend a 3 day forum to address some common issues for Indigenous Sea Country Managers. Members from the TUMRA Steering Committee as well as Senior Girringun staff members will be attending. Animal Care & Protection and Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2012 (the Act) - Traditional Hunting Causing as little pain as is reasonable The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry (DAFF) provided a fact sheet (in September 2012) updating changes to the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 (the Act) and some other Queensland laws. The changes to the Act have removed an exemption from animal welfare obligations, that used to apply to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people. A 12-month period of grace was put in place to enable communities to become familiar with the changes. This grace period ended on 21 September 2013 and changes set down in the Act are now in effect.. The changes will not take away hunting rights; however, they will affect how hunting rights can be exercised. Under the Act, a person is guilty of cruelty if they kill an animal in a way that is not quick and humane (meaning the animal doesn t suffer or feel pain). TUMRA logo (artwork by Djiru Artist, Leonard Andy) Green Sea Turtle Fitzroy Island Turtle Hospital

6 Practices that are considered unacceptable by DAFF include: injuring the animal after it has been captured to stop it escaping and to keep it alive; for example, breaking or removing a limb injuring or prolonging the life of the animal to attract other animal, for example, tethering a dugong calf to attract other mature dugongs cutting flesh from the animal to eat before it is dead causing the animal pain from dehydration or starvation, for example, leaving turtles on their backs for prolonged periods of time. In order to address TOs concerns about these changes, the Girringun TUMRA Steering Committee has contacted DAFF to clarify the term cruelty as it applies to the Act, but also as it applies to TO hunting rights. It is hoped that a response will be received prior to the Traditional Owners Hunters forum to be held on Stradbroke Island from the 11 th to 13 th November. The TUMRA Coordinator will be organising meetings over the next few months (for the 6 saltwater groups in the Girringun region) to discuss these changes and any impact they will/may have on TO hunting rights. To access further information and Fact Sheets, please visit the DAFF website (follow the links to Biosecurity/Welfare and Ethics/Animal Welfare/Queensland s Animal Welfare Law/Amendments to the Animal Care and Protection Act 2012). Hunting Suspensions Nywaigi and Girramay A meeting between the Nywaigi and Girramay members is currently being organised to discuss and review the hunting suspension (of turtle and dugong) put in place post-cyclone Yasi. Representatives from QPWS and JCU will be invited to present current data on turtle and dugong population status. Dolphin / Dugong Project with JCU This project is going ahead full steam thanks to the dedication and commitment of JCU Scientists, and the fantastic effort from our Ranger Coordinator and Rangers! Regular boat surveys are now being carried out and there have been some great outcomes and sightings to report (please refer to Ranger Coordinator report for further information). 2013/14 Project Budget A draft budget for the 2013/14 TUMRA contract has been forwarded to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) for approval. A response is expected by the end of November For further information, please contact the TUMRA Coordinator, Cheryl Grant, by phone on or [email protected] Can Girringun members please notify the office of new addresses Cardwell Assembly of God Church Presents Heaven s Gates & Hell s Flames Where: Cardwell Community Hall When: 7th Dec-9th Dec :30pm FOR SALE at Girringun For $35 each Members receive a book for free. Call Girringun office to order