A major highlight of 2021 in the Warddeken IPA was the creation of the Kuwarddewardde Malkno or Stone Country Seasonal Calendar. With KKT's support, rangers and knowledge holders from across the Warddeken IPA worked to describe the six local seasons, document important indicators for each and produce an engaging wheel-style calendar that will help wurdurd (children) learn about their Country and culture.
"In the Arnhem Land Plateau, in the stone country called the Kunwarddewardde, there is a special calendar that tells an important story of the land and the sky. It has six seasons, capturing the subtle changes in the landscape and in nature that the local Bininj Kunwok clans have seen over the vast time they have lived and traveled across the land.
"It’s a calendar intimately and instinctively understood by the locals but until recently it had not been made into a visual form. That's all changed now, thanks in large part to the establishment of a local bicultural school, called the Nawarddeken Academy.
"If you look closely at the calendar you soon appreciate that it's a stunning rendition of how landscape, weather, flora and fauna interact, capture and preserve the ancient cycles of change and renewal. There is vibrant colour, local language, photographs and unlike other calendars a circle of seasons that moves through green to yellow to orange to red and to blue, reflecting the interaction between weather, land and water.
"The calendar is a powerful symbol of what has happened in Northwest Arnhem land during the past few years. It points to the critical role of Warddeken Land Management Limited. A body that governs and helps sustain the locals to be on Country and to reestablish their cultural practices and pass them on to the next generation and it also shows how philanthropy has come to find a place here in listening and supporting for the years it takes to shape better outcomes through land management and the academy."
You can listen to the full podcast here.
