A preliminary assessment of Anangu knowledge of Central Australian invertebrates

Yen, A.L., Gillen. J., Gillespie. R., Vanderwal, R. and the Mutitjulu Community, 1997. A preliminary assessment of Anangu knowledge of Central Australian invertebrates. Memoir.', of the Museum of Victoria 56(2): 631-634. There is a growing recognition that the knowledge of indigenous peoples can be invaluable in ecological studies and environmental management. While there is now an expanding literature recording indigenous ecological knowledge, most of it focuses on indigenous knowledge of flora and vertebrate fauna, with only passing references to invertebrate fauna. This has also been true in Central Australia, where important recent studies of Aboriginal ecological knowledge have focussed on the relationships between vertebrates and flora. There is only fragmented information on Aboriginal knowledge of invertebrates in Central Australia, primarily the use of invertebrates as a food source and linguistic studies that record invertebrate names. A project was initiated with Anangu from the Mutitjulu Community at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, who speak Pitjantjatjara, to learn about their names for invertebrates, their knowledge on the biology of invertebrates, and their possible use of invertebrates as environmental indicators. The methods adopted in this project are outlined and some preliminary results presented. Introduction erer societies of arid Australia also attributed .... . . .. . , environmental values to invertebrates. The existing literature on Aboriginal knowledge . , of invertebrates suggests that it is restricted to n A recently in, ,ated survey of invertebrates at those that are of economic value and to a few Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park by he Museum invertebrates that are culturally significant, for of Victoria provided an opportunity to underexample in creation stones. Aboriginal knowltake a collaborative project with the trad ? t.onaI edge regarding invertebrates .s primarily associowners to record their knowledge ot he invertj Tt... • c^TMTM„a. anwiiiiiv ebrate fauna. The Anangu, the traditional ated with their use as a food resource, especially ? ' ..• , . u .f \ n„j i,-^; m ,i„ unn«, an tc owners of this region of the Western Desert, had witiuti (witchetty) and bardi grubs, honey ants, ° . molluscs and honev bees (Campbell, 1926; already been working with scientists and park M^Keown, 1 944; Bodenheimer, 1951; Tindale, managers to record their tradit.ona knowledge 1966Calaby, 971; Tindale, 1981; Devitt, ofplants and vertebrate fauna as part ol the longooo TM \hJ i^fwrrnatirm i« opnpral keH term sustainable management of the park (Reid 1989). Often this informal on is ge e ised Baker J9 The M itju ,u using a mix ure of informahon^Jom d'fferent Commum ,ocated within uluru.Kata T uta parts of Australia from ^rynal mbes ot drf>• ^ Qf^ ferent language groups, a"^ has been gathered f inv B ertebrates Wlth the scientisls , without clear scientific 'dent.ficat.on of the f n jde h [wf^ invertebrates being named or described. This £ » * ^ demonstrate this has resulted in the use of a myrturejafJ^WAl J knowledge of their land and common names that have been applied nation" atJ , **p~ b oiiiniuii iiunics mai u w i p h in wn ,cn tney care for tne]r country. ally: e.g., bardi and witjuti grubs. : From the point of view of western science. The primary language of Anangu is Pitjantjatin vertebrate diversitv and abundance suggests jara, which is the language spoken in part of the that they are a potentially very powerful group of Western Desert region of Australia and encomenviron'mental indicators (New, 1 995), and it is passing the Great Victoria Desert, although the important to ascertain whether the hunter-gathlanguages in the Simpson and Gibson Deserts 631 https://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.1997.56.61 28 February 1997