Climate Smart
Thriving across Country
From beating the heat in the desert to building sustainable fish farms out of volcanic rock, or working with dolphins to catch dinner, Aboriginal peoples have developed climate-smart ways to live in harmony with their environments.
Clans adapted to life in vastly different terrains — arid inland ranges, saltwater coastlines and fertile volcanic plains — developing deep knowledge of seasonal patterns and local environment. The result? Ingenious survival strategies that offer timeless lessons in sustainability and connection to Country.
Arid
Flinders Ranges, South Australia
To the uninitiated, Adnyamathanha Country in the ancient Flinders Ranges can seem like an inhospitable place to live. Summer temperatures regularly exceed 40 degrees Celsius in the rugged, ancient mountain landscape of inland South Australia. It's remote, sparsely populated and arid in parts.
But Adnyamathanha man, and co-owner of the tourism business Wadna, Kristian Coulthard says when you understand Country, you soon see that Mother Nature provides all.
‘For example, a lot of people don't realise the river red gum provides habitat for birds. We ate the birds and their eggs — the branches that fall to the ground provide wood to keep us warm and to cook our food, and the hollow logs can house other animals, including habitat for goanna and the rain moth — and their witchetty grub larvae.’
Some of that rich survival knowledge can be found in the area’s rock art galleries, which act as a guidebook.
The ancient Adnyamathanha petroglyphs and rock art scattered throughout the Flinders Ranges includes depictions of the type of food available, where to find water and the best places to camp.
‘Adnyamathanha people have been here for tens of thousands of years and when you spend that long in an environment you can notice the subtle changes in temperature and the climate, and adapt… we don't walk in the middle of the day in the heat; we sit under a tree and conserve our energy, to use when it's appropriate.’
Aboriginal people are as diverse as the environments they live in, but they share their ability to know and adapt to their own Country, Kristian says.
‘The Yolŋu people know where the crocodiles are, but I wouldn't like to cross a river in the Top End…. we are all suited to our Country.’
Wadna
Dingly Dell Tour (Yura Mulka) | Adult from AU$110
Saltwater
Burleigh Heads, Queensland
When the wattles flowered on the Gold Coast, the Kombumerri people knew mullet would soon be migrating in large numbers and they would come down to the water to take advantage of this time of plenty.
‘It was one of the ways we have always used nature and animals to teach us how to survive,’ says Jellurgal guide Heidi Quatro.
Topping that survival list is the incredible relationship the Kombumerri had with dolphins, who helped them hunt fish in exchange for part of the catch.
‘The people would tap on the water, and the dolphins would know it was time to herd,’ Heidi says.
The Kombumerri people were also skilled at aquaculture, creating fish nets out of the leaves of the plentiful pandanus plant that was also used for shelter and to weave items like baskets.
Large fish traps in the bigger river systems were used to catch and hold fish for when they were needed. But sustainability was always a priority.
‘We'd never catch breeding fish or the females,’ Heidi says.
Jellurgal Cultural Experiences
Jellurgal Walkabout | Adult from AU$59
Volcanic Plains
Mount Eccles, Victoria
The engineering smarts of the Gunditjmara people enabled them to shape the volcanic plains of Budj Bim, in regional Victoria, to create a land of plenty.
Taking advantage of the undulating landscape, carved by the rivers of lava from the eruption of Mt Eccles more than 30,000 years ago, the Gunditjmara created an innovative aquaculture system that stretched for kilometres.
‘We only manipulated the country just that tiny bit to use every depression where the water would be sitting, then connecting those depressions up with man-made channels that we dug out,’ says Joseph Saunders, General Manager of Budj Bim Cultural Landscape Tourism.
Baskets placed between the connections would capture the larger eels, whilst allowing the smaller ones to pass through.
‘Then there's other depressions that are not connected up to any other waterways, and we pushed eels into those areas and would leave them for a couple of months over summer as a holding pen.
‘Some of our Elders used to call 'em fridges, so you can just go back there any time because they're not migrating during that time.’
Fish trap systems were also installed in the lake, where you can still see the remains of more than 160 stone houses - part of an extensive permanent settlement.
‘It's just like a fish tank, but it's a giant fish tank,’ Joseph says.
‘Then you’ve got your bird life, like black swans, and other animals like emus and kangaroos. When they're drinking up water, our houses were just a couple of feet away, so, you they could actually sneak up... and just grab it,’ he laughs.
Budj Bim Cultural Landscape Tourism
Tae Rak (Lake Condah) Cultural Tour | Adult from AU$89
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