WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

Punamii–unpuu is a very important place to its Aboriginal Traditional Owners, the
Wanjina-Wunggurr people, who are concerned that tourists, drawn by these well–
recognised aesthetic values, must behave correctly while they are there. They say that
people visiting Punamii–unpuu need to be very careful, and should be accompanied
by a Traditional Owner:
* * * *
'Like many water places in our country, Punamii–unpuu is a powerful story place,
with great cultural and spiritual significance. For whitefellas, it would be like a big
cathedral. Punamii–unpuu is a large sacred site, entire area, not just one place – it
includes all of the creeks (eg. Mertens Creek), rivers (eg. Mitchell River), waterfalls
(eg. Little Mertens Falls, Mitchell Falls), and surrounding outcrops and woodland.
'Wunggurr, or creation snakes, travelled from different points with Wandjina, the
creators, making rivers and creeks, and creating all living things. The snakes meet and
show each other (punmii–unpuu) at Punamii–unpuu, travelling from the sea (leaving
paintings at Arrun on the tidal stretch of the Mitchell River), and from inland, like
Wumbulbrii, the one-eyed snake. Punamii–unpuu is an important part of the
Wunggurr travels, and is now one of the main homes for Wunggurr.
'The powers and creation story of Punamii–unpuu are fundamental to our beliefs, and
to our life. It is a very important place to all Wandjina–Wunggurr people, for the
Worrorra side, the Ngarinyin side, and the Wunambal–Gaambera side.
Punamii–unpuu is an important link for our Wunggurr dreaming tracks. We have a
really strong responsibility in our Law to make sure those links are not broken'
(Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation 2001).
* * * *
Kimberley vine thickets
Scientists have only recently realised that rainforest is an important, if restricted,
element of the vegetation of the Kimberley. Rainforest traditionally provided many
resources for Aboriginal people in the Kimberley. Until the 1960s, however, the
presence of rainforest patches had gone largely unnoticed by non-Indigenous
researchers. Unlike the more extensive forests of North Queensland, which blanket
mountain ranges and cover coastal lowlands, Kimberley rainforests occur as scattered,
isolated vine thickets. While small patches are found as far south as the coastal sand
dunes near Broome, they are most extensive in remote and rugged parts of the
mainland and islands of the North Kimberley region. Many of these vine thickets are
very small – some are less than a hectare in size. The largest, on south-west Osborne
Island, is 100 hectares. While only occupying a small portion of the area of the
Kimberley, vine thickets are critical to the biodiversity of the region: they contain
around a quarter of all recorded Kimberley plant species, many of which do not
survive outside the rainforest environment, and are an important refuge for animals in
the late dry season (Kenneally et al. 1991; Kenneally and McKenzie 1991; Black
2001). The food and shelter they provide is particularly important after surrounding,
drier vegetation has been burned. However, few of the plants found in these vine
thickets are endemic to the Kimberley: most also grow in rainforests in other parts of
northern Australia. Their seeds are transported long distances by birds and bats, and
quickly colonise areas of suitable habitat. This ease of dispersal is crucial for the
continuation of small, isolated patches of vine thickets in a vast and largely
19