A collaboration between Traditional Owners and a Charles Darwin University (CDU) PhD student has resulted in 11 sacred sites across Arnhem Land being registered by the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA).
The sacred sites are located on the Country of Mawng and Kunbarlang Traditional Owners between Arla (Relief Point) and Karrabu (Goomadeer Point), between the communities of Warruwi and Maningrida.
The registrations are a result of the collaboration between Traditional Owners and knowledge holders living in Maningrida and Sam Williams, a PhD student with CDU's Northern Institute.
The group have been working together since early 2023 on a project to care for important places on Country and make sure that this inheritance is passed on to the next generation of Traditional Owners from this part of coastal Arnhem Land.
As part of this work, Traditional Owners wanted all sacred sites within the region to be registered by the AAPA under the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act 1989 (Sacred Sites Act).
All sacred sites are protected in the Northern Territory under the Sacred Sites Act. However, registering a sacred site legally establishes its status with detailed information that enables more effective protection by the AAPA for site custodians.
Samuel Gulwa, a senior custodian of these sacred sites, said registering sites was part of caring for his Country.
"This Country is too dangerous, there are many djang [sacred sites]," Mr Gulwa said.
"Balanda [non-Aboriginal people] could go to the wrong place and get into trouble. Or they could destroy that Country. We want to keep our Country safe, to look after it. It's very important."
Mr Williams, an anthropologist by training, has been supporting the group to record information on the sites.
"We all want our research to make a difference to the lives of the people we are working with, so it is really exciting to see this long-standing aspiration of my collaborators finally be reached", said Mr Williams.
"The project has involved many hours of conversations, sitting down with senior knowledge holders to document their stories of these significant places," Mr Williams said.
"While the formal registrations increase protection for these sites under the Sacred Sites Act, it has been just as important to record the deep knowledge of Elders who have responsibility for this Country under Indigenous law.
"We had the opportunity to visit all of these sacred sites with Elders, to camp there together and to make a series of videos of Elders telling these stories to the camera. Elders are now using those videos in Maningrida and Warruwi to help teach younger generations of their families about these places of Ancestral significance."
AAPA Board Chair Bobby Nunggumajbarr said there is a lot of work involved in sacred site registration and the Board welcomes the support from CDU and others to help collect the necessary, detailed information on these significant sites.
"It is very important for the Territory that these sites are registered and given the full protection of the law."
Work to extensively map the sacred sites was supported by funding from the Australian Government as part of the Our Marine Parks grant program from Parks Australia, and from the INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture.
The Bawinanga Rangers also provided critical resources, including vehicles, boats and helicopter fuel, to help get the group out to this remote part of Arnhem Land to document the sites.
Site custodian Mr Gulwa said registering these sacred sites had been on his mind for many years.
"Well, it's been a very long time we've been trying to make sure these places are protected. We've been talking to some anthropologists since the 1990s, it's been a long time. But now we're there," Mr Gulwa said.
"We never forget all those things that old people were telling us. That knowledge was in front of us all the time, what our great grandfathers and grandmothers were telling us. So we know this Country, we know all these places."
Custodians Henry Imberamana and Jack Marilain said it was important to pass these stories onto the next generation.
"Some young people don't know this area. When they come in the boat from Warruwi to Maningrida, they might get into trouble, upset the Country or go too close to that djang [sacred sites]," Mr Marilain said.
"We don't want that to happen. We've been trying to make it safe for them, to protect them.
"Those Spirits under the water and out from the water, people need to take care of them. That's why we're passing on this word for them."
