Sunday, September 21, 2008

Camels common in the Great Sandy Desert

Kimberley camels

Camels and more camels

I have just come back from a trip into the Great Sandy Desert and was surprised to see so many signs of camels. Once you pass the Telfer Mine turnoff there are lots of fresh camel droppings sprinkled across the road.

This fragile dune country is part of the Rudall River National Park. One of the largest national parks in Western Australia and probably the least visited. There is very little water and road travel is difficult as fuel is not readily available. This region is renowned for its diverse wild life, including many reptiles, frogs and small mammals that are found nowhere else.

ant hills lake Dora

The Rudall River is a chain of waterholes that feed into Lake Dora, a vast salt lake that has been known to fill up in the last 13 years but only when a cyclone dumps a huge volume of water over the catchment.

On my return I was heartened to hear that the Martu people of Kunawarritji are developing an industry of catching the camels and transporting them to the Middle East.

A recent aerial survey study has determined that there are approximately 21,000 camels in the Rudall River National Park, These camels are in large herds of between 50 and 100 camels concentrated around the few water holes.
You can read the whole report here: http://www.blogger.com/www.dec.wa.gov.au/component/option,com_docman/gid,2136/task,doc_download/%20--

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Thalanyji Aboriginal people give an insight into the plants of the Ashburton

Trudy HayesTrudy Hayes is a Thalanyji woman. Today she has very excitedly left Port Hedland to visit her traditional country in the Ashburton region of WA around Onslow to celebrate the

Thalanyji native title consent determination.

Congratulations Trudy and Thalanyji everywhere!div>

Trudy like many of her people was born on a station in the Ashburton region and then went to Carnarvon mission where she spent her childhood being educated.

Trudy is a Thalanyji speaker and works hard with her sisters to pass on to their children and others the culture and traditional knowledge of the Thalanyji. Her sisters have just published the most beautiful book on Thalanyji plant names and their uses, "Ngambunyjarri: Thalanyjibarndi Yininyjarri". This gorgeous publication has full colour photographs of the plants, a great description of their common food, medicinal and everyday use such as kerosene grass that is used to make fires, Kapok plant used for bedding.

pilbara bird bush

Here is a picture of the mulhurn bush from my back garden that is also known as the green bird flower and is the emblem of the town of Port Hedland. It is wonderful to have such a rich resource of Indigenous plants, their names and their uses.

If you are interested in the book or finding out more about Pilbara traditional languages go to Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre.

ISBN: 1875946942

http://acl.arts.usyd.edu.au/projects/wangkamaya/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1


Sunday, September 7, 2008

Potable water wasted to damp down dirt in Port Hedland

Water wasted

At the weekend I was shocked to hear that in Port Hedland, BHP Billiton damped down thier piles of iron ore with potable fresh water; 4.3 Gigalitres per day . Iron ore dust is a very important environmental hazard in Port Hedland.


Pilbara trainWhole mountains are moved in enormously long trains. The ore is then dumped at the port and loaded into ships then carted off to Asia to build the incredible infrastructure that is now a feature of the Asian urban landscape. Port Hedland is right by the sea with an abundance of sea water that could be used for the job as was the case until recently. However BHP Billiton had a problem that the infrastructure they had constructed to move this dirt, namely the conveyor belts and the trucks were going rusty because of the salt. So fresh water is being used. Understandable you may think but in the same town, salt is being transported by conveyor belt and truck and loaded into ships. How is it possible that one company can transport salt and one can not transport dirt with a sprinkling of salt on top.

Port HedlandFinucane Port HedlandWhat is the Western Australian State government doing to ensure that safe drinking water is not being wasted in this way? If BHP Billiton absolutely needs to use this water what are they paying to deplete a non renewable natural resource namely the Pilbara underground water reserves.

If you are interested the Conservation Council of WA website has more information
http://conservationwa.asn.au/component/option,com_events/task,view_detail/agid,72/year,2007/month,08/day,22/Itemid,1/
Have a look here to find out more about the Pilbara ground water allocation
http://www.anra.gov.au/topics/water/allocation/wa/gmu-pilbara-peedamulla.html

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Whales may save the Kimberley

Kimberley Whale

Whale nursery found

The beautiful remote Kimberley islands and coastal reserve are the site of mining controversy. As expected there are vast reserves of oil and gas under the Kimberley sea, not surprising as the ancient landforms of the Kimberley and Pilbara are rich in fossils and mineral deposits.
They are also rich in Aboriginal art sites and are home to a huge biodiversity. On the 12th of August the ABC reported the findings of a study from the Marine Science Institution which found an amazing nursery of Humpback Whales. This maternity ward of 607 whales is said to be the largest to have been found anywhere in the world. Camden Sound where the whales have been spotted must be one of the natural wonders of the world and is an indication that this region needs to be world heritage listed.

Read more about it here at the ABC

If you are interested in finding out more about the mining operations and their impact on this beautiful region have a look here.