Arnhem Entrepreneurs
Cycad harvesting, a thriving industry in the Top End, is about to leave our shores for the export market. And it is completely run by Traditional Owners.
These ancient plants are an internationally listed and protected species and are therefore very desirable to collectors.
Such demand for this plant means that the traditional owners of the Garmedi Outstation - near Maningrida, on the coast about half way between Darwin and Nhulunbuy - are in business.
While over-harvesting has occurred in third-world countries, the Maningrida people are sustainably harvesting these valuable trees.
The Maningrida people - consisting of about nine different clans - received $20,000 from the Australian Government Envirofund for the project.
Project officer Ray Hall says the cycad is restricted in its distribution and there is one species in the Territory that is found only in Arnhem Land - Cycas arnhemica.
"The traditional owners accept that you can make an income off the land, they understand that and want that but they don't want to alter the landscape like with forestry, agriculture or grazing," he says.
"My involvement has been to try and develop the sustainable use of natural resources."
Because cycads are an internationally-listed species, there has been a close working relationship with the Australian and Northern Territory Governments over management plans for the plant.
"In association with researchers from Charles Darwin University we have done considerable research about how many were out there, what area they covered and what impacts our harvest might have," Ray says.
"We harvested the cycads and put permanent tags on surrounding cycads to see if taking these plants was having any impact. We'll follow this research up in a couple of years."
This enterprising project has provided seasonal and part-time employment for Indigenous people, which is culturally and socially important in an area with no history of employment. There has been no agriculture or grazing-use in these lands, only traditional land-use.
"We've got a large population base recognising the need for economic development but not knowing how to engage in that," Ray says. "Our aim is to develop relevant employment opportunities, such as seasonal work, and focus on native species.
"We've found Aboriginal people are willing to engage if they're dealing with a native species because it removes the barrier that Western education puts up in front of most employment opportunities.
"We have an illiterate Indigenous man who is running a crocodile incubator. Because it is a native animal, he is interested in the work and he now knows how to use a digital control panel. This engagement simply would not occur if - for example - it was a chicken incubator." Cycads are sold in Darwin to the horticulture trade, with some even going interstate. There are several trees currently growing in the National Botanical Gardens in Canberra.
"In the future we hope to look at exporting," Ray says. "We have intentionally kept some trees to learn about them and make sure they can survive overseas.
"We've studied them for about three years and we'll provide any information we learn to the Northern Territory Government".
In keeping with the requirements of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, Indigenous communities are trying out different treatments on the plant, such as keeping trunks alive without any soil or leaves, so that soil won't be exported.
More information
- Maningrida Wildlife Centre: (08) 8979 5419 or wildlife@bawinanga.com
- Australian Government Envirofund
- Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
- Northern Territory Government
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