Un Magazine

This article records an historic event, when senior Pitjantjatjara artist and community leader Rene Kulitja chose to sing and perform inma alongside a recording of her father played from the digital community archive Ara Irititja

The impact of feral camels (Camelus dromedarius) on remote waterholes in central Australia

The Katiti and Petermann Aboriginal Land Trusts (KPALT) in central Australia contain significant biological and cultural assets, including the World Heritage-listed Uluu-Kata Tjua National Park. Until relatively recently, waterbodies in this remote region were not well studied, even though most have deep cultural and ecological significance to local Aboriginal people. The region also contains some of the highest densities of feral dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) in the nation, and was a focus area for the recently completed Australian Feral Camel Management Project. Within the project, the specific impacts of feral camels on waterholes were assessed throughout the KPALT. We found that aquatic macroinvertebrate biodiversity was significantly lower at camel-accessible sites, and fewer aquatic taxa considered 'sensitive' to habitat degradation were found at sites when or after camels were present. Water quality at camel-accessible sites was also significantly poorer (e.g. more turbid) than at sites inaccessible to camels. These results, in combination with emerging research and anecdotal evidence, suggest that large feral herbivores, such as feral camels and feral horses, are the main immediate threat to many waterbodies in central Australia. Management of large feral herbivores will be a key component in efforts to maintain and improve the health of waterbodies in central Australia, especially those not afforded protection within the national park system

Waumananyi: The Song on the Wind

Uti Kulintjaku [UK] is an innovative, Aboriginal-led mental health literacy project that takes its name from a Pitjantjatjara phrase that means ‘to listen, think and understand clearly’. Formed from the Ngangkari traditional healers and artists of the NPY Women’s Council, the UK addresses community issues of mental health from both Aboriginal and Western perspectives. “What makes (the UK project) especially compelling”, writes Kim Mahood in The Monthly, “is that it provides a framework for a conversation about the underlying psychological forces that drive human behaviour.”Working with the Big Anxiety and fEEL, the Uti Kulintjaku team have created two new virtual reality works, sharing their healing practices through creative visualisation, including Waumananyi: The Song on the Wind, an Anangu-led response to the experiences of constraint, entrapment, and depression through the traditional story (or ‘tjukurpa’) of ‘The Man in the Log’.Thes VR work was presented at:Winda Film Festival, University of Technology, Sydney. 21/11/2019 - 24/11/2019.Siggraph Asia, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Sydney. 17/11/2019 - 20/11/2019.VRST 25th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, Western Sydney University, Parramatta. 12/11/2019 - 15/11/2019.Pop up exhibition, UNSW Library, Sydney. 28/10/2019 - 31/10/2019.Art after Hours. The Big Anxiety virtual reality station., Art Gallery NSW, Sydney. 16/10/2019.The DAX Centre, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. 10/10/2019 - 08/11/2019.Big Anxiety Festival, UNSW Art and Design, Sydney. 27/09/2019 - 09/11/2019