"The Ngan'gi seasonal calendar, developed by Sustainable Ecosystem's Emma Woodward, in collaboration with residents of the Nauiyu community from the Daly River, Northern Territory, was launched at the recent Merrepen Arts Festival and Open Day.
Taking ten months to develop, the calendar represents some of the traditional ecological knowledge of the Nauiyu community. Its development was driven by the community's desire to document seasonal-specific knowledge of the Daly River and its wetlands, including the environmental indicators that act as cues for bush tucker collection. The calendar also addresses community concern about the loss of traditional knowledge with an increasing number of young people speaking Kriol as their first language rather than Ngan'gi. As more elderly people pass away, so too is the Ngan'gi language.
The seasonal cycle recorded on the calendar closely follows the cycle of annual speargrass (Sarga spp.), with many of the 13 seasons identified named according to speargrass life stages. For example, the season known as 'Wurr wirribem dudutyamu' occurs when speargrass seed heads are swollen and hanging heavily. The term 'taddo' refers to the sounds of seed heads knocking together and starting to open up, and indicates that the rainy season is nearing at its end.
Nauiyu community leader, Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart, was a key partner in the project, providing both a wealth of information and invaluable linguistic and translating skills in documenting information from senior community members.
The calendar was received with great interest and enthusiasm at the Merrepen Arts Festival, which attracts more than 1000 people from across Australia to the Nauiyu community each year. Indigenous educators at the Festival were particularly interested in the calendar and are keen to integrate the knowledge into their curricula.
This research is part of a three-year Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) funded project on Indigenous socio-economic values and river flows in the Northern Territory and Kimberley in Western Australia."
http://www.csiro.au/news/newsletters/SIROSCOPE/2009/July09/htm/calendar.htm09/July09/htm/calendar.htm
