Sharks and Rays
INTRODUCTION
In Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribal groups have a strong connection with the land, sea, rivers, mountains, plants and animals. Through Dreamtime stories, their spiritual connection with the surrounding environment and beliefs of creation are told. These stories depict cultural practices, laws, ways to hunt and gather, and relationships with the natural environment. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people also use art, music, and dance to express their beliefs and to develop connections within and between tribes.
FOOD
Fishing and the collection of marine resources is an important part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. The types of food eaten are dependent on the season and the environments in which they live. Both now and in the past, coastal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups seasonally harvest stingrays and sharks from the sea and estuaries. These foods form an important component of their diet (see the 'Emu and Jabiru' story). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups use indicators in the environment to determine the best time to harvest their food source.
In some cultures, for example tribes on the east coast of Cape York, the first thunderstorm of the wet season or the sighting of Torres Strait pigeons are considered to be the time to harvest stingrays 1. In regions, such as the Kalumburu (far northern Kimberley), the Aboriginal groups start harvesting stingrays for their liver when they first notice flowers appearing on the Bush Almond (langanda) 2. It is known amongst many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups that the liver of a stingray is suitable for eating if it is oily and pinkish white in colour. It is also known that stingrays and manta rays with two spines are inedible 1.
The livers of stingrays and sharks are highly prized by some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and considered to be sacred objects of the highest degree 3,4. The 'young' and 'fat' livers are valued as a delicacy 3. The liver of these animals contains iron and vitamins, providing strength to those that eat it and is a particularly important food source for babies and elders 5. The people of the Anbarra group, of north-central Arnham land, prepare stingrays by dipping pieces of flesh into liver 'gravy' (gravy made in a large shell over a fire) 3. Torres Strait Islanders make buunhdhaarr by boiling the shark and ray's livers and flesh separately, then mincing the two together 1,6.
The Aboriginal tribes located on the east coast of Cape York, for example the Lockhart and Hopevale communities, prefer to eat specific species of ray 1. Some of their favourite species include:
- Cowtail ray (Pastinachus sephen)
- Thorny ray (Urogymnus asperrimus)
- Long-tailed ray (Himantura uarnak)
- Mangrove ray (Himantura granulata)
TOOLS
The bones of stingrays and sharks are used to make tools; the skin of sharks is used as sandpaper, the spine in the tail of stingrays are used as spear tips, and sharks teeth are used as drills and sometimes embedded in hunting tools 5.
CULTURE
Totems
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups have strong spiritual connections with the environment, and strong beliefs about hunting, gathering and eating of foods. Different clans are assigned different totems and in some cases individuals are given personal totems when they were born. It is custom not to eat, kill or harm their totem; in some tribes there are exceptions for special occasions (e.g. ceremonies). The Diamond stingray (Yama) is the totem of the Wuthathi tribe (Shelbourne Bay, northern Queensland) 7. Stingray is also the totem emblem for some Torres Strait Islanders 8. Sharks are a totem of the South Australian Ramindjeri people and are forbidden to hunt them 9. This is also the case for the Meriam Islanders (Murray Islands or Mer, eastern group of islands in the Torres Strait). The Meriam's carved stone shark made in the19th century, reflects the long-term spiritual and cultural importance that sharks have had to the Meriam islanders. There is a story about a Meriam man and his son, who had an accident at sea and lost their boat. During the night as they waited to be rescued, sharks brushed past their legs. The Meriam people believe that the sharks did not attack the man and his son, as shark is their totem animal and would protect them 10.
In the Torres Strait, personal pendents are worn. These pendents often represented their totem and are mostly carved out of wood, turtleshell or shells 8. There are well-established rules as to when the pendents can be worn, often only allowed during ceremonies or rituals 8.
STORIES
The Dhui Dhui Story
The Bandjin people of Hinchinbrook Island and Lucinda Point on the adjoining mainland of North Queensland, as well as Gould and Garden islands and part of Dunk Island. The Dhui Dhui story appears courtesy of Russell Butler, of the Bandjin People. Bandjin means saltwater people.
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Duhi Duhi Story of the Bandjin People |
Where you look due south toward Hinchinbrook (Muddamuddanaymy; pronounced Mudda-mud-ah-nah-me) from Dunk Island (Coonangalbah; pronounced Koo-nang-gol-bar), two boys paddled out in a canoe and dropped their stone anchor. The elders had told them not to fish on that sand spit because there was a big shovelnose ray (Dhui Dhui; pronounced Doo-ee Doo-ee) that lived there. The boys fished anyway. The ray bit their line and started to tow them around in the canoe but the boys wouldn't let go of the line. It towed them around the ocean for a while before going down the Hinchinbrook channel. They disappeared into the horizon. By then it was getting dark and everyone was worried about the boys. As they were looking south with the night sky rising, the Southern Cross appeared, which was Dhui Dhui; the shovelnose ray, and the two pointers; the two warriors in their canoe.
The Ngarrindjeri people living in the Coorong and Murray Valley region, in South Australia, consider the Southern Cross to be a stingray (Nunganari) in the night sky, with the two pointer stars as sharks (Ngarakani) 9,11. Some Aboriginal groups in the Northern Territory consider the two pointer stars as one shark.
Use links to find out more about Aboriginal astronomy and the stingray in the night sky:
http://www.assa.org.au/nacaa/aaaip.pdf
http://www.abc.net.au/goldfields/stories/s776147.htm
Lizard Island
To the Dingaal (or Dingiil) Aboriginal group of north Queensland, Lizard Island is a scared place and is known as Jiigurru (and also known as Dyiigurra). During the Dingaal Dreamtime, the Lizard group of islands was formed. The Lizard group of islands is thought to be a stingray (Jiigurru being the body and the other islands forming the tail).
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?parkid=184&format=print
Luma Luma
The "Luma Luma" story tells the tale of a giant that came to western Arnhem Land in the Dreamtime. He could change his shape at will and travelled in the form of a stingray. He taught the people about the Mardayin ceremony which he owned. This included teaching them about sacred laws, totems, objects and places. Find out more about the Luma Luma story at: http://www.artrightnow.com.au/ahc/award/artist/Wp_5170.htm
Emu and the Jabiru Story
The 'Emu and the Jabiru' Dreamtime story is written by the Marrkula people of Arnham Land. This story emphasises the role food plays in Indigenous culture.
http://www.dreamtime.net.au/emu/text.htm
Kondili Story and Song
'Kondili the whale' is a Dreamtime story of the Kaurna/Ngarrindjeri people from South Australia. This story is about the consequences of greedy and jealous behaviour.
http://www.aboriginaleducation.sa.edu.au/pages/Learners/
(Go to scroll bar on left hand side of screen, then click on 'Kondili the whale' link).
ART
1. Click on link to view the 19th century stone shark from Murray Island (Mer)
http://www.nga.gov.au/NewAcquisitions/2003/shark.htm
2. Click on the link to view the Hammerhead Shark Headdress by Ken Thaiday Sr from Murray Island (Mer), Torres Strait.
http://139.230.168.22/2000_02/final/Beyond_the_pale/artists/thaiday/thaiday.htm
Then click on image to enlarge.
3. Click on link to view the sculpture called 'Story Place of the Dingo'. This is a sculpture by the Wik-Mungkan people.
http://www.nga.gov.au/ModernWorld/7.htm
4. Click on link to view Aboriginal paintings of Hammerhead sharks and Eagle rays from Liverpoool River (northern Arnham Land).
http://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/sea/seacat03.htm
Scroll down to image 60 (Hammerhead sharks) and 61 (Eagle rays).
References
1. Smith, A.J., 1987, An Ethnobiological Study of the Usage of Marine Resources by Two Aboriginal Communities on the East Coast of Cape York Peninsula, Australia., PhD Thesis, James Cook University, Townsville.
2. Crawford, I.M., 1982. Traditional Aboriginal Plant Resources in the Kalumburu Area: aspects in ethno-economics. Western Australian Museum.
3. Meehan, B., 1982. Shell Bed to Shell Midden. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, ACT.
4. National Oceans Office, 2004. Description of Key Species Groups in the Northern Planning Region. Hobart.
5. MESA, 2005. Utilising resources of the Great Barrier Reef. Marine Education Society of Australasia Inc. Viewed on 17 January 2005, http://www.mesa.edu.au/cams/module14/readings01.htm - read4
6. DAFF, 2002. Australian Shark Assessment Report,
http://www.affa.gov.au/corporate_docs/publications/pdf/fisheries/shark_assess_report.pdf
7. Western Cape Artists, 2005. Viewed on 21 January 2005,
http://www.westerncapeartists.com/
8. Wilson, L., 1988. Thathilgaw Emeret Lu - A Handbook of Traditional Torres Strait Islands Material Culture. Department of Education, Queensland.
9. Pring, A., 2002. Astronomy and Australian Indigenous peoples (draft). Aboriginal Cultural Studies and Reconciliation. Viewed on 20 January 2005, http://www.assa.org.au/nacaa/aaaip.pdf.
10. Scott, 1965. Our feet are on the land. In: Davis, R. (Ed.), Woven histories, dancing lives: Torres Strait Islander identity, culture and history. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
11. ABC Online, 2003. Aboriginal Astronomy - dreaming in the sky. Viewed on 14 January 2005, http://www.abc.net.au/goldfields/stories/s776147.htm.
