AustraliaQuest is an interactive expedition developed by Classroom Connect. For five weeks a team of scientists and explorers will examine the ancient culture of the Aborigines and attempt to determine how it affects their modern existence.

Dreaming of the sea

Factoring prominently in Aboriginal myth, loggerhead sea turtles are important for spiritual reasons and as a source of food

Today I swam with an Aboriginal Dreamtime Ancestor. I was snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, looking at butterfly fish and parrot fish when it glided by, flapping its flippers. I saw my first loggerhead sea turtle.

Sea turtles have been important to coastal Aboriginal people for thousands of years. Aborigines have a similar relationship with the turtle as they have with the kangaroo. They have hunted the turtle while also worshipping it as a Dreamtime Ancestor.

As I watched the noble creature launch effortlessly through the water, I understood why Aborigines placed special value on this animal. Sea turtles, like the Aborigines themselves, are true survivors, being extremely similar to ancestral turtles that shared the sea with ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs 150 million years ago, in the age of the dinosaurs. They demand respect.

Almost a third of all Aboriginal people today live within 15 miles of Australia's coasts. Traditionally, these coastal peoples -- with names like Yidinyji, Gungganyji, and Wanyurr -- hunted in the nearby rainforest, gathered shellfish, and fished the ocean's waters in outrigger canoes. Their Dreamings, like those of inland Aborigines, reflect a deep connection with the natural world around them.

VIDEO View the team's daily movie feature on the AustraliaQuest site Play video     More on AustraliaQuest from Classroom Connect: Kid Profile Dan's Dilemma Mystery Photo Quest Map

Aboriginals understood that the reef was a special and fragile world, one to be used and harvested but also protected. They call the ocean "sea country" and extend their beliefs and values to cover it. Songlines that begin hundreds of miles in the interior of the continent extend out into the sea, linking the actions of whales and wombats, crabs and crows into meaningful stories.

Although they hunted sea turtles, Aboriginal Peoples enforced traditional limits on who could catch them and how many turtles and eggs could be taken. Traditional owners could close breeding grounds at ritually prescribed times, with severe penalties for violating tjukurrpa, or Ancestral Law.

In recent years, Aboriginal people have claimed ownership over some of their sea country, just as they've done with their traditional lands. In 1999 alone, Aboriginal groups filed 74 claims to different parts of the Great Barrier Reef, most of which remain tied up in Australia's courts. By claiming ownership of the reef and the waters around it, Aboriginal people are saying that someone needs to have a claim on the sea in order for it to be properly cared for.

The authorities of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park think so too, and have developed a number of conservation initiatives involving collaboration with Aboriginal communities. The Kuku Yalanji people, for example, now work with marine authorities to monitor and conduct research in local turtle habitats.

Aboriginal approaches to conservation are based on the principle of sustainable harvesting. They believe that people should use turtles and other sea creatures, but people, as caretakers, must also conserve these animals and treat them with respect. These traditional attitudes contrast sharply with some Western attitudes toward the same animals, which view them as a limitless resource.

Sherri swims with a loggerhead sea turtle

Just yesterday we pulled up to refuel from a large, luxury charter boat. Off the boat's stern was a 12-foot, 1,000 pound marlin they had just caught for fun. Having bagged this impressive animal only hours earlier, they were dragging him out to sea to feed to the sharks. This behavior contrasted dramatically with what I had learned from Terry Coulthard weeks ago about how we should deal with killing animals.

I had asked Terry, "What would you do if you accidentally hit and killed a kangaroo with your car?"

Without pause, Terry had offered, "I'd stop and take it home and eat it. It's a terrible waste, even a sin in my culture to kill an animal without eating it and making proper use of it."

I watched the bloody marlin being dragged behind the dingy, wondering what Terry would make of this sad and disrespectful scene.

After five weeks of exploring Aboriginal wisdom, I'm beginning to understand the songlines mystery. It's all about connections. Aboriginal people wove themselves into the fabric of life around them. They were part of nature, not lords over it. They belonged to the land, not the other way around, and took care of it with the kind of love and respect we reserve for close family. Their rituals, though secret and private, helped establish bonds between the people and nature, for the survival of both.

As the sea turtle, my new friend, disappeared into the deep blue of the sea, I imagined him following his songline into uncharted waters. After my time in Aboriginal Australia, I think I'll be better equipped to chart my own course into the future.

Diggin' It,
John Fox

AustraliaQuest
Classroom Connect