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The Jinigudera People
The Jinigudera People
The Traditional owners of Ningaloo Reef, the Jinigudera tribe, also known as the Yinikutira people, have been inhabiting and connecting with the Gascoyne Region since 30,000 even to 60,000 years ago. In the 1800, the name 'Nyinggulu' was recorded, and interpretates to the meaning "Deep water".
The Yinikutira people are coastal dwellers and nomadic people, travelling from places like Tent Island all the way to Bulbali Point on the western coast of Ningaloo Reef. They rely hugely on marine ecosystems and resources to support their lifestyles, including the turtle (majun), eggs, fish and shellfish. This tribe upheld marine focused strategies, using resources from both land and sea to sustain the traditional owners comfortably for over thousands of years.
Land Management Practices:
Land Management Practices:
What is it and how does it affect the Environment:
What is it and how does it affect the Environment:
Indigenous people left the Cape Range shortly after Europeans settled on Australia, as diseases began to emerge from whalers and pearlers out of Exmouth Gulf, as well as many other colonization induced causes.
Indigenous people all across Australia contributed to Land Management practices in their own ways, depending where they were and what they had access to in the environment. Land Management practices are methods to harvest and hunt supplies and food, but in a way that creates a sustainable system to co-exist with the environment. Compared to European methods of sourcing materials, land management keeps a constant support to the ecosystems by using practices that in turn wont damage the environment.
What Land Management Practices are used on Ningaloo Reef:
What Land Management Practices are used on Ningaloo Reef:
The indigenous population of Ningaloo Reef used multiple types of hunting and land management practices to hunt food or source supplies, whether above or below the water, and on the coast. The way that they hunted for food was dependent on what they ate. Being coastal dwellers, the Jinigudera people used spears and nets in order to catch the marine resources and animals they had easy access to.
Spearing: Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders used spear fishing as a skilled and reliant way to source marine life, from fish to small sting rays residing in the shallow reefs and water. They were also able to crowd and trap fish into rock pools to make this process easier. When spear fishing for the small stingrays, it was a difficult task to ensure they didn't tread on one and risk being stung with their venomous tail blades. Some spears varied in comparison to others, for example some where a single sharpened piece of wood, some were multi-pronged or some were barbed. These all had different uses to different marine life.
Soft Burning: Above the water, the technique of soft burning was used on Ningaloo Reefs coastal plant life to trap lizards and other small creatures within the flames, where they were then able to kill them and harvest what was needed. By creating soft and controlled fires, as compared to raging wildfires, it was actually very beneficial to the plant species regeneration to thrive, as well as the cracking and dispersing of seeds around that ecosystem. It is even proven that plant regrowth has increased a few years after the events of a soft burning.
Basket Fish Traps: As fish swim upstream or throughout a reef, large fish traps would be set out to face the oncoming fish. At the mouth of the trap is a funnel that ensures they fish enter, and also prevents their escape. As the indigenous only wanted to catch adult fish - so that there was always others to reproduce - the traps were crafted to only trap larger or adult fish, and the younger ones, which were smaller, had the ability to escape. These fish traps were sustainable for the environment, as well as reusable.
Mussels and Shellfish: After gathering mussels or shellfish, indigenous would them trade them to other groups that were living in areas where these resources could not be found. Shells of mussels could be used as tools, as they were useful to craft fish hooks, or could scrape wood or even animal hides. Mussels were found under the sandy shores of coastal beaches, or collected off of rocky platforms.
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