A unique participatory method of mapping Rainforest Aboriginal knowledge, which has helped reconnect Indigenous communities throughout Australia, captured the imagination of delegates at the IUCN World Parks Congress 2014 (WPC) in Sydney.
Photo: Wet Tropics Images - M'lis Flynn
Over several days of the congress, six Mandingalbay Yidinji Traditional Owners from the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area used paint, pushpins and strands of wool to map their knowledge about the country on to a 3-dimensional scale model. Delegates gathered while Traditional Owners populated the hand-built model to illustrate what is culturally significant across their traditional country.
As the first Traditional Owners to manage and complete a Participatory 3 Dimensional Modelling (P3DM) project in Australia, the Mandingalbay Yidinji people are very proud of what has been achieved. The exercise has helped reconnect the community as well as provide an opportunity for young people to learn from Elders and knowledge holders. "This little project has bought individuals and families together that may not have communicated in the last 30 years! Now the young ones have no barriers,” said Traditional Owner Dale Mundraby.
At a session on the risks of mapping traditional and local knowledge, WPC Champion, Mr Luvuyo Mandela, accepted Mandingalbay Yidinji’s completed model on behalf of the Congress and in a moving speech, said: "We, as Indigenous people need to learn a language that helps us communicate what we need and who we are in a way that’s digestible to the rest of the community. This initiative is an incredible one."
The World Parks Congress demonstration was part of a broader project being facilitated by the Wet Tropics Management Authority, and funded under IUCN's Global Environment Facility-supported: Inspiring Protected Area Solutions (GEF – IPAS) program. The project aims to ensure Traditional Owners are the decision-makers in what is to be mapped, how to map it and who has access to the mapped information. Mandingalbay Yidinji Traditional Owner Dawn Kyle, in her speech to the Congress said: "Creating this map bought us closer as a community, now our kinship systems are slowly coming back and tribal and cultural information is being shared."
The models and mapped information will assist Mandingalbay Yidinji people in managing their Indigenous Protected Area and traditional country within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in the future. The models are also being used as educational tools for Mandingalbay Yidinji rangers when interacting with local schools and for guiding tourists and visitors.
For more details about P3DM and this project please contact M'Lis Flynn at the Wet Tropics Management Authority mlis.flynn@wtma.qld.gov.au
