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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

in giving reasons or causes for them. This is not surprising given the complexity of some of the causal processes involved, and the fact that Oriners was primarily a workplace rather than a long-term residential site for those being interviewed. 9 A working synthesis of local knowledge is made possible by focusing on environmental description, on complementary and/or shared experiences, and on physical causal processes that may not be complete or holistic, but which are less likely to be a basis for controversy or disagreement than those emerging from some of the conflicting values and perspectives identified by Strang. In searching for a working synthesis of local knowledge, this project gathers information useful for future management as well as identifying and assisting in the ongoing creation of an area of common ground. 1.6 History of Oriners Station 1.6.1 The pre-colonial period As noted previously, the contemporary boundaries of Oriners incorporate country associated with the Olkol people of central Cape York. The wide variation in seasonal conditions at Oriners suggests that traditional occupation was likely to have been seasonal, in keeping with the broader seasonal patterns of residence noted for Indigenous groups elsewhere (Keen 2003). Strang cites a comment from Kowanyama elder Colin Lawrence: ...them old people moved in the wet time, moved right up here somewhere. On the ridge there. They knew when the flood was up - creek start running. They knew where the high ground was (Colin Lawrence 1992). (Strang 1997: 15) Early colonial violence in this area is largely undocumented, but is likely to have been severe in the later decades of the 1800s and into the 1900s (Sharp 1974[1952]; Strang 1997). Sharp‟s description of a particularly bloody encounter involving the Jardine brothers, which became known as the Battle of Mitchell River, describes Indigenous people dying in volleys of gunfire in an incident that early maps suggest took place northeast of the Alice-Mitchell junction (Strang 1997:17). Such violence pushed the surviving resident population out of some areas and into others, then on to settlements and missions. Strang describes that the important (now deceased) Kunjen elder Lefty Yam knew that his ancestors had come from the Coleman River area, but had sought refuge from the violence on Koolatah Station. They had begun stockwork on the station, remaining there even after the mission was well established, and the Yam family now associate themselves with country in the Mitchell catchment. The dispersal of Olkol and Kunjen people to Kowanyama mission, and particularly the Yam family to Koolatah Station, was to be important in the subsequent decades. 1.6.2 The Hughes Family The Hughes family is one of the most prominent pastoral „dynasties‟ in the region. They first appeared in this part of the Mitchell catchment in 1912, when Maddock Hughes and his brothers (including Cuthbert Hughes) occupied the Koolatah block after some time working at Highbury (Strang 1997: 51). 10 Koolatah was identified by colonial authorities as vacant at the time. There were a significant number of Indigenous residents at Koolatah during this period, with the Yam family being the most prominent, and their labour was crucial to building the station. Four brothers from the Hughes family were involved in the establishment of Koolatah Station – Lucas, Cuthbert, Malcolm, and Maddock. Cuthbert remained on the property for over 9 Unfortunately Nugget Finch, the main non-Indigenous cattleman who did reside in the area for over 30 years, died prior to the commencement of this study. His wife Pam was made aware of this research but did not wish to be involved. 10 Strang obtains some of her material about the Hughes family from an unpublished manuscript produced by a member of the family Hughes, R. (1989). Family album of Herbert Maddock and Laura Hughes: their forebears, descendants and relations. Southport, Queensland.. Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York 19
20 years, Cecil Hughes, the son of Maddock, first arrived at Koolatah in1942, and estimates that he became involved in mustering Oriners in the late 1940s. At that time it was officially vacant, but was also occasionally used by pastoralists at Strathleven Station. The Hughes family formally took up Oriners as part of their holdings in the early 1950s. Station infrastructure and buildings proceeded slowly, but as Cecil notes, the regular mustering required led to greater facilities and ongoing residence: We used to muster it, and as time went on the cattle had to be looked after out there. So we built a hut there and had somebody there. The drafting yard and the dip, loading ramp and everything, paddocks, and we carried on there for a number of years…Then we put a caretaker out there, a feller called Wilmott. He was out there for a while. Cecil Hughes Figure 6. Cecil Hughes in Mareeba, July 2012. During this period, Oriners mustering occurred from the base at Koolatah Station. Koolatah was mustered first, then Oriners was mustered later in the dry season. The infrastructure improved in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and in the mid 1960s it was possible for Herbert and Nola Hughes to reside at Oriners, then to use it as a base whilst they built a homestead at New Dixie, the land for which had been purchased from Hank Morris in the early 1960s. Colin Hughes, the current owner of Drumduff and Highbury Stations, and the son of Herbert and Nola, spent his very early childhood at Oriners before the family moved to New Dixie in Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York 20
Page 1 and 2: T Working Knowledge: local ecologic
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Acknowledgments ..........
Page 5 and 6: 5 Working knowledge: Conclusions an
Page 7 and 8: Figure 29. Mitchell catchment in fl
Page 9 and 10: Figure 68. 2004 Aerial Photograph o
Page 11 and 12: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The project is the
Page 13 and 14: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This is a report
Page 15 and 16: space for a complementary study emp
Page 17 and 18: cattlemen and the Hughes family, th
Page 19 and 20: As a contrast and complement, it is
Page 21 and 22: of people residing there during the
Page 23 and 24: the area for one or two seasons, bu
Page 25 and 26: Fire Frequency: for the Oriners are
Page 27 and 28: Strang then describes the story of
Page 29 and 30: emembered linguistic associations.
Page 31 and 32: Mystical/spiritual Scientific Perso
Page 33: ut your children will probably get
Page 37 and 38: Robert Burns: I was walking around
Page 39 and 40: Corporation. 12 Viv Sinnamon provid
Page 41 and 42: The purchase process was a factor i
Page 43 and 44: Viv Sinnamon: Yeah, and when we had
Page 45 and 46: communities, Lockhardt [River] and
Page 47 and 48: 1.7 Oriners and the contemporary re
Page 49 and 50: management of country are not new.
Page 51 and 52: The above points demonstrate the va
Page 53 and 54: about forest and think of something
Page 55 and 56: Marcus Barber: Is that where Kowany
Page 57 and 58: -----------------------------------
Page 59 and 60: comes along with that, and where th
Page 61 and 62: Ivan Jimmy‟s brother Wilfred made
Page 63 and 64: Indigenous Australians are renowned
Page 65 and 66: Colin Hughes followed up his though
Page 67 and 68: Ezra Michael: I never heard it. No.
Page 69 and 70: Marcus Barber: So every time you we
Page 71 and 72: Figure 20. Oriners Lagoon in flood
Page 73 and 74: Figure 23. Large Woody Debris (LWD)
Page 75 and 76: Figure 24. Jeff Shellberg talks wit
Page 77 and 78: Figure 27. Mitchell catchment in fl
Page 79 and 80: 2.2.4 Permanent water and groundwat
Page 81 and 82: Marcus Barber: So do you know how d
Page 83 and 84: Marcus Barber: Does that happen at
Page 85 and 86:
Marcus Barber: What animals do you
Page 87 and 88:
people are using the lagoon. Becaus
Page 89 and 90:
that old black headed python. You g
Page 91 and 92:
Marcus Barber: I was trying to find
Page 93 and 94:
Major introduced animals at Oriners
Page 95 and 96:
Colin Hughes: Oh there‟s just a l
Page 97 and 98:
There was never too many [wild hors
Page 99 and 100:
Cecil Hughes: Yes, you never saw th
Page 101 and 102:
And they had special fish traps her
Page 103 and 104:
Philip Yam: 3 or 4 times. A few tim
Page 105 and 106:
Conversations with Philip Yam about
Page 107 and 108:
Marcus Barber: so you have to get f
Page 109 and 110:
2.5.4 Cattlemen: working connection
Page 111 and 112:
Edwin David Most of the older build
Page 113 and 114:
spirits being reborn in new generat
Page 115 and 116:
Marcus Barber: Phillip‟s son Max?
Page 117 and 118:
necessary at some of the times they
Page 119 and 120:
Marcus Barber: If it was a really w
Page 121 and 122:
hobble the horse and camp out there
Page 123 and 124:
Marcus Barber: So you were moving a
Page 125 and 126:
Marcus Barber: Was the grass still
Page 127 and 128:
Philip Yam: Drumduff. We got blamed
Page 129 and 130:
purpose of fires needs to be very c
Page 131 and 132:
Marcus Barber: But it‟s been ther
Page 133 and 134:
Figure 38. Oriners station from the
Page 135 and 136:
and it traverses some areas prone t
Page 137 and 138:
2.7.1 Applying „Working Knowledge
Page 139 and 140:
ochen (uy -) ojen (uy -) mujun (uy
Page 141 and 142:
Oykangand Olkol Og Water ok Water o
Page 143 and 144:
Other signs mark a broader seasonal
Page 145 and 146:
The two comments from the Jimmy bro
Page 147 and 148:
Average Monthly Rainfall (mm)_ 450
Page 149 and 150:
demonstrated that cyclone landing f
Page 151 and 152:
Figure 48. Geology of the catchment
Page 153 and 154:
3.2.4 Soils The soils of the “for
Page 155 and 156:
Figure 49. Soils of Oriners and Sef
Page 157 and 158:
Figure 52. RAAF oblique photograph
Page 159 and 160:
Annaly (A) Land System Lowlands on
Page 161 and 162:
3.2.6 Soil erosion Soil erosion can
Page 163 and 164:
Figure 56. Land use map of the Mitc
Page 165 and 166:
larger valleys of Hoodoo and Sellar
Page 167 and 168:
solutes from subsurface sedimentary
Page 169 and 170:
3.2.10.2 Eight Mile valley near Ori
Page 171 and 172:
Elevation (m) 180 160 140 120 100 8
Page 173 and 174:
Figure 64. 1955 Aerial Photograph o
Page 175 and 176:
pools like these are typically carv
Page 177 and 178:
Figure 67. 1955 Aerial Photograph O
Page 179 and 180:
Working Knowledge at Oriners Statio
Page 181 and 182:
have also been defined as valley-bo
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Eucalyptus leptophleba (Mollow Red
Page 189 and 190:
to manage vegetation and game, or f
Page 191 and 192:
Figure 77. 1955 aerial photograph o
Page 193 and 194:
Overall pig populations are poorly
Page 195 and 196:
area can be obtained from the Queen
Page 197 and 198:
degradation. Genuine restoration op
Page 199 and 200:
Section 4.1 contains models of inte
Page 201 and 202:
Figure 80. Model of Oriners landsca
Page 203 and 204:
4.1.3 Late dry season Two key diffe
Page 205 and 206:
eshape the elements in the same way
Page 207 and 208:
Evidence from Section 2.6.4 and 3.2
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Figure 92. Oblique air photos of Ho
Page 213 and 214:
The primary contexts for learning k
Page 215 and 216:
Despite data limitation, there is e
Page 217 and 218:
Marcus Barber: If you were to think
Page 219 and 220:
Regional scale Neighbouring Statio
Page 221 and 222:
Cotter, G. (1995). A study of the p
Page 223 and 224:
Kowanyama Aboriginal Council (2003)
Page 225 and 226:
Smart, J., K. G. Grimes, et al. (19
Page 227 and 228:
7 GLOSSARY 38 Alkaline- having the
Page 229 and 230:
Fluvial Megafan- a large (10 3 -10
Page 231 and 232:
Potential Energy- the stored energy
Page 233 and 234:
8 APPENDICES 8.1 Informed Consent F
Page 235 and 236:
8.3 Wildlife Animal Species List fo
Page 237 and 238:
Birds Coraciidae Eurystomus orienta
Page 239 and 240:
Reptiles Crocodylidae Crocodylus jo
Page 241 and 242:
Dicots Fabaceae Crotalaria montana
Page 243 and 244:
Dicots Myrtaceae Neofabricia serici
Page 245 and 246:
Monocots Poaceae Eriachne sp. C Mon
Page 247:
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?