#newhavenwildlifesanctuary #tracking #expert #warlpiri
Sitting under the hot desert sun, Christine Michaels runs her finger over the red dust. The Warlpiri woman sees a story everywhere she looks. The tight coil of a snake gliding through the sand, the sharp strokes of a lizard's tail. The subtle difference in space between the twin footprints of a trowel and bettong. Christine Michaels is a jeweler who received training from her mother and father in her youth. By reading tracks, Christine knows which direction an animal went, how long ago it passed, and whether it was male or female. She knows which birds will sing when she approaches, she knows her favorite food, and how to safely burn her habitat. These are the stories he has been taught since he was little, and they are now a part of him. Master scout Christine Michaels points out warlpajirri tracks in the red soil. “Transmitting knowledge makes me proud,” she says, kneeling in the red dirt. But Christine fears that one day these stories may be lost. Because if nothing changes, there will be no one left to read them. Christine Michaels shares her knowledge with Pintupi rangers. keeping information alive Christine is a well pungu a master scout. She was only eight years old when her family taught her how to read the country. In their time, most children were born in the bush and learned to track and hunt from the day they could walk. Lajamanu ranger Helen Wilson wants to keep tracking information alive. "If it disappears, we lose all our knowledge," says Lajamanu ranger Helen Wilson. "And if we lose all our old people, it's over." But there are hopes that a new educational programme, Yitaki Mani , will help keep this ancient knowledge alive. The pilot project is a collaboration between the Central Land Council and the Warlpiri people. Women collect field or bush potatoes, which grow underground from a low-spreading plant. Working in close collaboration with well pungu, the program transforms generations of knowledge into 11 intensive learning activities; including mind maps, quizzes, worksheets and workshops. Purpose To accelerate the education of the next generation so that knowledge is not lost. This project took three years to come together, and this week it's finally getting a test run. A group of Pintupi rangers and elders trekked five hours to Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, 363 kilometers northwest of Alice Springs, to learn from Warlpiri master trackers. Warlpiri master scout Alice Henwood searches for forest food. According to viewers, this country is "really healthy." A large fence protects native wildlife from predators such as foxes and cats. It is full of delicate species such as pakuru and warlpajirri , which many older people have not seen since their youth and most young people have never seen at all. Before sun gets too hot, group heads into heart of refuge for a viewing session, young rangers filling out worksheets as they go. Pintupi rangers traveled from the remote commu
