Cultural Calendar

The Bandjalang Cultural Calendar was developed by the Minyumai IPA Women Rangers and Dr. Emilie Ens from Macquarie University who helped with collaborative research. The information was collected by taking observations of the native floral and fauna, reading scientific literature, attending workshops and setting up experiments based on the prescribed fires implemented on Minyumai IPA. The calendar uses ‘biocultural indicators’- noticeable, predictable, seasonal events that may be culturally significant- to tell us when the seasons are changing, and when it is a good time to burn. This data collection is ongoing, and the calendar will be updated as we learn more. 

 

The calendar also presents what we know about changes throughout the year, such as migratory birds visiting during summer, many species of wildflowers blossoming during the warm months, bush tucker species that can be harvested at certain times of the year, and changes for species that are important to us such as the Gehrr (glossy black cockatoo, Wijoon (Gliders), Boorubi (Koala), Ngugum (Dingo) .