Martu Women’s Traditional Flora Camp
In the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia, senior Martu women share their knowledge of plant and bush medicine with younger Martu women. The younger women are eager to learn the skills of their ancestors and maintain the transfer of cultural knowledge across generations.
Recently 42 women from three Martu communities came together for a four-day plant and bush medicine workshop supported by Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ). The women, most of who work as rangers, met at an important place on Martu country called ‘Yulpu’, in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia.
The workshop was organised because the younger Martu women were eager to meet with senior women and learn about their important traditional knowledge. It had been decades since such a gathering was possible.
The women rangers worked hard before the event collecting seeds and medicine plants to share at the workshop. Fiona Walsh from CSIRO, an ethnobotanist who had worked with Martu people for over 20 years, facilitated the camp. Senior women shared information about a variety of plants and guided the younger women through winnowing, yandying, and grinding different types of seed.
The training included information about how to look after plants and animals and how to improve biodiversity through cultural and natural resource management on Martu lands.
The camp also enabled a better understanding of how to impart traditional knowledge in modern times. It provided an opportunity to record this knowledge through video, audio and photos for the sake of future generations.
Students from Parnngurr school visited one afternoon to participate in the intricate process of making a traditional kalaru seed cake.
Nancy Taylor is a senior Parnngurr woman is a ranger on Martu country.
“We are working on making kalaru seed cake and showing the kids so that they can learn,” Nancy said.
“The young generation can learn for the future.”
This transfer of cultural knowledge across generations is important in building and supporting strong and sustainable Martu communities. Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa’s Senior Cultural Advisor, Muuki Taylor’s message is clear.
“When the old people are finished, the young people must keep going, looking after country. All the future generations should be working to look after country.”
Find out more
Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa is a Martu organisation established to look after Martu culture and help build sustainable Martu communities.
Environmental work on Martu country is funded by a mix of Australian Government Working on Country and Indigenous Protected Area programmes, State, corporate and not-for-profit funding.
Over the past three years, there has been a shift towards non-government sources predominantly through the Martu Living Deserts Project (a unique partnership between Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa, The Nature Conservancy Australia and BHP Billiton), which made up around half of the organisation’s funds in 2015.