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

esearcher (Strang 2001) focused on cultural mapping of the area between the Alice-Crosbie
junction and Oriners and noted the singularity of this landscape and its value to its traditional
inhabitants:
The Alice-Crosbie area is characterised by major river and creek systems, and floods
extensively in the wet season, although high ridges above the rivers provide sanctuary from
the floodwaters. At the time of the mapping project, an unusually long wet had left much of
the country boggy and inaccessible to vehicles, and many of the deep creeks were still
flowing. Even in mid `dry' season, there were spring flowers and green grass, and the big
swamps were teeming with wildlife. It was clear that, for hunter-gatherers, such country
would have offered a huge and unusually reliable range of resources. Even in the driest of
seasons there are springs which never run dry; there are major populations of birds, fish
and animals; a wide array of edible and medicinal plants and fruits, and materials for
traditional artefacts. The Kunjen elders described regular patterns of movement around the
area, and noted many long-term camp sites, where people lived even when some
members of their communities became involved in work on the cattle stations. Being some
distance from any major settlements, people could continue their traditional practices
relatively undisturbed, and Kunjen elders recall their families living in „custom ways' well
into this century. Even after several families made a base at the station homestead at
Koolatah, they still walked back to this area to make use of their land.
(Strang 2001: 1)
Figure 4. Map of the lower Eight Mile and Crosbie Creek valleys and locations of the 4 major
lagoons discussed in the report: Oriners, Mosquito, Jewfish and Crosbie.
Nevertheless, although the sand ridge areas are slightly higher, like the rest of the station
they remain soft during the wet season and are difficult for vehicles and heavy, hard hoofed
animals such as cattle to negotiate. The soft and boggy ground, regular flooding regime, poor
nutrition available to stock in the large areas of more sparsely vegetated ti tree woodlands
and sand ridges mean that the station is not rich cattle country. It has therefore remained
largely unfenced and has never had high stocking rates. It also did not have large numbers
Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York
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