Management

The koorawull is an important animal for the Guringai people. It is one of the Guringai kinship totems. Other totems include the bream, goanna and the wallaby. There are 8 kinship totems for the Guringai people.

Kinship totems determine who can marry as well as what your responsibility will be within your group. The koorawull is a girl’s totem, and those born into this totem are responsible for teaching other girls about food gathering, the seasons and caring for babies.

For Aboriginal people, everything is interconnected, people, plants and animals, landforms and celestial bodies are part of a larger reality. Nothing is inanimate, everything is alive; animals, plants, and natural forces, all are energised by a spirit. As such, humans are on an equal footing with nature; are part of nature and are morally obligated to treat animals, plants and landforms with respect.

Each family belonging to a totem group is responsible for taking care of their totem: the flora and fauna of their area as well as the care of the sacred sites attached to their area. This stewardship consists not only of the management of the physical resources ensuring that they are not plundered to the point of extinction, but also the spiritual management.