Mosaic Map: NRM funded projects
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Recording traditional knowledge for the future
Wikmedia Productions filming yam collecting in the Wik homelands
Doreen Marpoondin preparing digging stick in the Aurukun homelands
Doreen holding a recently dug yam in the Aurukun homelands
The traditional knowledge of Cape York Peninsula's Kuku-Thaypan elders is being saved for the future with the help of modern technology.
Supported by the Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation, the Traditional Knowledge Recording Project (TKRP) is logging inherited traditional knowledge for use in managing natural and cultural resources in today's world.
Funding
The Australian Government has provided almost $200,000 for the project and additional support has come from the State Government.
"Loss of traditional knowledge would result in a decline of Indigenous identity and severely reduce the recognition and understanding of an invaluable sustainable knowledge system," TKRP Project Manager Victor Steffensen said.
"The Traditional Knowledge Recording Project aims to rescue this knowledge, for the benefit of the community and Country, before it's too late."
Activities
Victor has recorded and transcribed many sessions with the Elders using digital video and computer storage equipment. The information is edited and entered into a database that stores it in a way that reflects traditional approaches to knowledge.
All aspects of language, country and culture are recorded including spirituality, ceremony and story places. This covers the management of land, water and fire.
"The database was developed to encompass core traditional knowledge fields, such as plants, animals and 'story places,'" Victor said. "Each knowledge area is a specific field with its own sub-categories under which cultural information is stored.
"Traditional knowledge of plants for example is broken down into categories such as medicine, food, craft, seasons, interaction of animals with the plant and so forth.
"Plants are not seen as isolated, but in terms of the way they are part of the ecosystem, as well as connected to everything else including laws and stories."
Victor stresses that every step of the project has been undertaken with the permission and active involvement of the Kuku-Thaypan Elders.
He sees the main benefits of the project as ensuring that traditional knowledge is handed down by the Elders to the next generation and is available for modern land managers.
The methodology and approach of the Cape York project is now spreading to other parts of Queensland and interstate.
More information
- Victor Steffensen, TKRP Project Manager: victor.steffensen@balkanu.com.au
- Traditional Recording Knowledge Project
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