ISSY'S UPDATES
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HAVE A LOOK AT LULIM
Hello everybody. I thought a good way to start is to show you all a bit of my country and why it is so important for me, the animals, nature, and all the wungur - which is what we call the life force in everything, including our own 'spirits'. My mum was born here and grew up around here and the other places I will show you. It is the remotest part of Western Australian coast.
THE TOLERANT REEF
Yowjabai is a big reef and islands. It has all sorts of life that is really special. When we worked with the marine scientist Dr Steve Blake back at the start of the 21st century, we found out that the reef is very tolerant to temperature change. This is important for all the life there as the ocean gets hotter.
THE MATERNITY WARD FOR HUMPBACK WHALES
My country is very special for many creatures especially the mundumbun (humpback whales). I was told in Perth once that whales do not come within 100 metres of shoreline. They must be studying different whales. We find mum and baby whales very close to our shores as they give birth and nurture their young. This is why Dr Blake dubbed it the 'maternity ward'. I liked that.
CARING FOR OUR KANGAROOS
We also have lots of kangaroos and wallabies that come right down to the beach and get mungardi (food). Recently a human lit fire at my camp that killed a local family of kangaroos. It really upset us. They shouldn't have been on my country and not lighting fires. This is what we mean us Aborigines when we say we gotta look after country. We gotta look after all of these things or there will be big trouble for everyone.
WALKING ON LAND WITHOUT US IS NOT ALLOWED IN LULIM
Because our environment is so special to animals and to our culture, there is no walking on land or islands allowed. We have been finding lots of people coming up here now that are not respecting this. This can cause a lot of problems for our animals and our environments that are already at risk. It also causes a lot of trouble for us, as most of my areas are very sacred sites with big Aboriginal Law. Here I am singing out to my country, letting them know I am there with my daughters. We have to do this under Aboiriginal law. There can be real trouble for everyone if you break the rules. Only us people from that country can show you things, and many places we cannot take anyone as they are very mamaa (sacred).
HUMPBACK WHALES ARE A BIG PART OF OUR COUNTRY
The Munumbuny (Humpback whales) are a big part of our country. We are lucky to see them all the time when they visit each year. When they are here we really get to see some special things, including jumping out of the water, or what they call breaching. This one is breaching right out the front of our campsite. We get some really big mother whales and also big men whales that come to do their business in our country.
LULIM IS HOME TO THE ENDANGERED WIJINGARRA
This is the Wijingarra, also known as the Northern Quoll. It is an important animal in my culture and in the Lalai Wunu (Dreamtime), and one of my important areas Wijingarra Butt Butt, is where the Wijingarra came out of the ocean in the Lalai Wunu and created the freshwater holes. It is a very sacred and special animal that only comes out at night time. It lives in my country and is listed by the Australian Government as Endangered with population decreasing. The scientists tell us that quoll populations are localised and at risk from human activity like inappropriate fire burning, habitat degradation, feral and domestic animals and cane toads - which are an introduced threat spreading across the north of Australia after they were introduced in Queensland. We have to keep my areas pristine to keep the Wijingarra's home safe to live in, as it is one of the species' last refuges.
