WfHC - cover page (not to be used with pre-printed report ... - CSIRO

Edwin David and Alan Creek‟s recollections both show their ability to apply general
knowledge about the landscape to the specific work situation on the station. The men were
focused on getting a particular job done, and the knowledge they gained and then developed
with experience was focused on that role. Cattle work had a substantial influence on
currently existing knowledge about Oriners (amongst both Indigenous and non-Indigenous
people). However the industry relied on workers who also had a much older source of
knowledge of the landscape. 2.7.2 below reviews some relevant linguistic examples of that
knowledge.
2.7.2 Linguistic classifications and categories
The linguist Philip Hamilton undertook extensive research on the Oykangand and Olkol
languages, and one major result of that research is an online multimedia dictionary
(http://www.oocities.org/athens/delphi/2970/index.html). The dictionary contains an
alphabetical list, as well as words organised into a range of categories, including flora, fauna,
and material culture. 33 Categorisation and classification has been an important aspect of
comparative anthropological and linguistic research because of its implications for human
cognition (Levi-Strauss 1966; Ellen and Reason 1979; Ellen 1993). This is well beyond the
scope of the current applied study, and the research did not focus on formal categories and
classifications. Nevertheless in addition to research insights, focus on local classifications
can also generate resources with a stronger local public and Indigenous community
orientation (Wightman, Garalnganjak Roberts et al. 1992; Luke, Luke et al. 2011). In effect,
this short section simply demonstrates another aspect of Indigenous understanding that is
important to note in a more general and intercultural synthesis, which because of its
orientation and resource constraints, cannot engage fully with the knowledge suggested by
linguistic studies from the area.
The following references taken from the dictionary demonstrate its content through three
aquatic animal species mentioned in the report:
Entry 1
Giant long-armed prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii
Figure 42. Giant long-armed prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii (image: P. Hamilton)
The giant long-armed prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii (family Palaemonidae), also
commonly called cherabin, is found in permanent freshwater streams and waterholes
across northern Australia and in brackish water and estuaries. Prawns are similar to
crayfish but their arms are long with fine claws.
33 The site also contains information on plant uses, reflecting Hamilton‟s collaboration with Jeff Stewart
on the unpublished ethnobotany, but the public website contains less detail than the report in
Kowanyama community archives.
Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York
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