Arafura Swamp region home to first Indigenous crocodile hatchery in Australia
Aboriginal traditional owners in the Arafura Swamp region are preparing to open a crocodile hatchery in Ramingining.
Aboriginal traditional owners in the Arafura Swamp region are preparing to open a crocodile hatchery in Ramingining.
The Arafura Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation has moved a step closer to independence and direct control of its land management area, after taking over the working on country contract.
The Arafura Swamp is considered unique in its size and range of relatively intact wetlands in the Northern Territory, with the paperbark forests kept well-watered through the dry season by springs along the Goyder River.
The Arafura Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation (ASRAC) recently launched their 10-year Healthy Country Plan, with support from Bush Heritage Australia, to protect Aboriginal culture, knowledge and ecosystems across 1.2 million hectares of East Arnhem Land.
Australia’s largest wooded swampland is just part of a 12,000 square kilometre block of land in the Northern Territory that will be managed for the next decade by more than 20 Aboriginal clans under a new management plan.
Not long after dawn has broken over Murwangi, a patient crocodile hides in the shade near a plump of unsuspecting ducks, and the barramundi seem eager to bite every time Peter Djigirr and Marley Djangirr toss their lures into the billabong.
A group of Indigenous rangers are working to save the Arafura swamp after years of neglect and damage by feral animals.
We know that the land needs its people to care for it and to keep it healthy. In the same way we know that caring for the country keeps us healthy – physically, spiritually and mentally.