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

Strang then describes the story of how the ancestral Bony Bream came to choose and create
Horseshoe Lagoon as its home. This involved interactions and negotiations with both
Kitehawk and Rainbow, other important ancestral creatures in the area, and the story also
refers to the considerable depth of the lagoon (100 feet in Strang‟s account). Strangers need
to be appropriately introduced by a relevant elder via a formal protocol for them to not come
to harm or offend the ancestors living there. Primary responsibility for this place rests with the
Yam family. Strang further notes that Afilap Ampungk‟s abundant resources and reliable
water made it a major meeting place in pre-colonial times, and it was also an important
mustering point during the cattle era.
Further information drawn from Strang‟s report about the other three permanent lagoons in
the area provides some comparisons. The lagoon next to the Oriners Homestead is called
Odnodh, which is translated from Olkol as „red paint‟. The totemic associations of Oriners
Lagoon are known but subject to some restrictions, and the specific story and details
underlying that association is further restricted to women only. Mosquito Lagoon is called
Ombolamb Ampungk, which translates as „Mosquito Home‟. This area is known to have had
ancestral and totemic significance, but the details were lost in colonial era violence. However
it remains an important camp site and source of resources, as Strang notes:
People used to burn sandalwood to keep the mosquitos away: there were many of them
here `a big mob here'. They made cup mari, and collected bush medicines.
Contemporary usages: still used as a dinner camp, and for fishing, hunting and gathering.
For example, there are Uk-arryal trees here from which the bark (Uk-enyjen) is widely used
for making a strong dilly bag, wrapping wounds, tying spears and humpies, or tying the
bark around a body:
„Tie him up humpy, he stop there for a while, might be two or three years, long as that
water, rain, hit him, he'll be still there. He'll see you and me out.‟
(Paddy Yam)
The bark is also used for medicine and (from young trees) can be chewed to assuage
thirst.
(Strang 2001: 48)
Nearby Jewfish lagoon is named in two languages - Igay Ampungk in the Uw-Oykangand
language, and Ijaj Ampungk in Olkol. Both refer to the bloodwood tree. As well as its
significance for cattle mustering, Strang notes that the Jewfish was an important place for
freshwater resources:
They would catch catfish, saratoga, turtle, barramundi. They also hunted crocodiles here:
`when you see bubble, go, cut him. He roll, give another spear. Put stick in jaws, he lock,
then hit him with a stick between the eyes'.
(Strang 2001: 51)
Comparing Strang‟s basic information about the four key lagoons of interest here shows that
significant knowledge about those places has been retained, notably the traditional language
names for each, and the living people responsible for those places (often the members of the
extended Yam family). However the report also shows that knowledge retention differs on a
site by site basis - for two lagoons, the Dreaming or ancestral narrative is retained, and for
two it has been lost. The diversity within Dreamings and their associated protocols is also
clear- at Afilap Ampungk (Horseshoe), the Bony Bream can be publicly identified as the
ancestral creator, but Strang notes the need for strangers to be properly introduced by an
elder. In contrast, at Odnodh (Oriners) the story is known but restricted to women, and
Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York
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