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the late 1960s. From this period on, Oriners mustering activity was primarily based at and organised from New Dixie, and Colin recalls himself and his brother Brian being responsible for it in the 1970s and 1980s: Oh we used to do all of the mustering at Oriners. We would have been about sixteen or seventeen. Colin Hughes Oriners was ultimately sold in the early 1990s to the Kowanyama Council on behalf of the Hughes family. The sale was negotiated by David Hughes, the nephew of Cecil and then manager of Koolatah Station, by David‟s father Bill Hughes, and by Herbert Hughes, the now-deceased owner of Dixie Station and the father of Colin Hughes, current manager of Drumduff and Highbury Stations. At this point, the Hughes family ceased playing a direct role in Oriners, other than managing the common boundaries between Oriners and the stations they continued to operate, formerly Dixie Station and currently Drumduff Station. 1.6.3 The Finches at Sefton Sefton Station, lying to the west of Oriners, is also owned by the Kowanyama people and it is often included in discussions about the future of the Oriners area. Nugget Finch and his wife Pam established Sefton in the mid 1960s as tenants in common with Edward Loudon and operated it as a pastoral property until the 1990s following transfer of Loudon‟s interests to the Finches in late 1981. The station was far smaller and operated independently as a lifestyle block (Strang 1997: 120-121) rather than as part of a larger assemblage as the Hughes‟ properties did. It therefore did not have a permanent Indigenous labour force, although Nugget participated in joint mustering efforts with adjacent station holders on a regular basis and was known for his positive relations with Indigenous cattlemen (V. Sinnamon, pers. comm.). Water resources were an ongoing challenge, and a small excision from Oriners was negotiated between the Hughes and Finch families in order to improve water supply to Sefton. The final transfer did not occur prior to the Hughes‟ selling Oriners, but the agreement was honoured by the Kowanyama people, and the transfer of this small parcel occurred in 1994. Financial difficulties required Sefton to be sold in 1996 (to Kowanyama Council), but the Finches remained there for some time as caretakers, before being requested to leave in the late 1990s by the Kowanyama Council of that time, which was acting on poor advice about development possibilities for the station and a lack of full awareness about the positive role that the Finches played in maintaining Sefton (V. Sinnamon, pers. comm.). As it was unoccupied from that point onwards, Sefton subsequently fell into disrepair, and much of the infrastructure is now destroyed by fire. Nugget Finch died in 2008. Sefton is an important component of contemporary Kowanyama people‟s territory, and a significant amount of the information presented here may apply to Sefton as well. However the primary emphasis of the current report is on Oriners Station. 1.6.4 Indigenous cattlemen The above paragraphs provide a brief history of the changes in non-Indigenous tenure and in particular of the Hughes family‟s relationship to Oriners. However this is only one part of the story, for cattle work was a primary means through which Indigenous people, particularly Indigenous men, were able to exercise a degree of autonomy, learn valued traditional knowledge in situ, and visit and maintain connections with areas such as Oriners. A history of Oriners is also a history of these movements, even though most were undocumented and are now not always remembered with clear markers of the dates and times they occurred. However there are exceptions: Michael Ross: Let the young fellow know how long you been there, when you started in all this country here. Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York 21
Robert Burns: I was walking around a long time, a long time ago. I must have been about 10 or 12 then. Fred Coleman: Just on his legs Marcus Barber: Do you know how old you are now or were you born before they recorded it? Robert Burns: 78 I am now. Marcus Barber: So that would have been Michael Ross: 37, 38 Marcus Barber: In the thirties... no forties [you were walking there]. When you were moving around that country, were there already cows on that country? Robert Burns: No, they put Oriners there sometime in, fifties, early fifties. 1952-1953. 1952 or something. Oriners there, then Sefton… Michael Ross: Old Nugget. He been there before Oriners come up eh? Robert Burns: Yeah I think so…No no. Oriners was there before. Marcus Barber: So can I just check, first time you saw that country was in the forties, and you were moving back and forth, can you remember when you stopped, was it the seventies? Robert Burns: 1961. I was over in the Strathmay area then. 1984 I went back to Dixie when old Herbie Hughes was running it. Fred Coleman: I was a kid at Old Dixie. Same time with the Hughes‟. I spent more time at Dixie when I was working with the Hughes‟. I stopped just before when Herbie Hughes sold out. Just before that. Another cattleman, Philip Port was also able to locate the 2 year period he worked at Dixie and Oriners reasonably accurately, working with Herbert Hughes. In other cases, these older cattlemen do not remember dates and years, but do remember specific details about the time which, with further investigation, could enable approximate dates for their presence to be narrowed down. Such details include infrastructure and the presence other people, for example Ezra Michael spent an intense wet season at Oriners in the 1960s, recalling that the white foreman at the time was called Norman Hudson and that he slept in a shed adjacent to the main house. Edwin David recalls the circumstances of his time working with the Hughes family at Oriners: Marcus Barber: When did you go up there, were you mustering up there. Edwin David: yes, we were mustering up there. Marcus Barber: Who was the boss up there? Edwin David: Cecil Hughes Marcus Barber: How many times did you go up there? Was it just once, or more than once? Edwin David: few times. Few years. I worked there for 12 months eh? Marcus Barber: so you stayed there for a wet season, right the way through? Edwin David: Yeah. Marcus Barber: Can you remember the year that was? Edwin David: No. Marcus Barber: when you were there, was there any house or shed there? Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York 22
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 and 34: ut your children will probably get
Page 35: 20 years, Cecil Hughes, the son of
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
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spirits being reborn in new generat
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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
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hobble the horse and camp out there
Page 123 and 124:
Marcus Barber: So you were moving a
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Marcus Barber: Was the grass still
Page 127 and 128:
Philip Yam: Drumduff. We got blamed
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purpose of fires needs to be very c
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Marcus Barber: But it‟s been ther
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Figure 38. Oriners station from the
Page 135 and 136:
and it traverses some areas prone t
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2.7.1 Applying „Working Knowledge
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ochen (uy -) ojen (uy -) mujun (uy
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Oykangand Olkol Og Water ok Water o
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Other signs mark a broader seasonal
Page 145 and 146:
The two comments from the Jimmy bro
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Average Monthly Rainfall (mm)_ 450
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demonstrated that cyclone landing f
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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
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Annaly (A) Land System Lowlands on
Page 161 and 162:
3.2.6 Soil erosion Soil erosion can
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Figure 56. Land use map of the Mitc
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larger valleys of Hoodoo and Sellar
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solutes from subsurface sedimentary
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3.2.10.2 Eight Mile valley near Ori
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Elevation (m) 180 160 140 120 100 8
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Figure 64. 1955 Aerial Photograph o
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pools like these are typically carv
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Figure 67. 1955 Aerial Photograph O
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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
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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
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Regional scale Neighbouring Statio
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Cotter, G. (1995). A study of the p
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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
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Fluvial Megafan- a large (10 3 -10
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Potential Energy- the stored energy
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8 APPENDICES 8.1 Informed Consent F
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8.3 Wildlife Animal Species List fo
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Birds Coraciidae Eurystomus orienta
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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:
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