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Bininj
I am Yarramarna J. Nadji. I am of the Bunitj clan.
Bininj translates from our language into man, us from this region. If you were not born into this country you are not Bininj. Kakadu stems from the name of one of our local languages – Gagadju It is our belief that our world was brought into being, into life by the creation forces of our ancestry. We call this initial force earth mother or Warramurrungundji.
She emerged to this country with sacred dilly bags of lore and knowledge. She gave birth to the first of us and shaped the landscape we live on. She still has presence in this country and as we are from this land we have within us her eternal essence. During the times of these first mornings other powerful creator beings helped shaped the landscape and our way of life. There is the Rainbow Serpent, the Lightning Man, people that transformed to animal and animal that turned into man. During these times Indjuwanjdujwa came across these northern plains and told us how to hunt and like all of these creation ancestors, when they had finished their work stayed in the country manifest as sacred stones, as paintings on rock surfaces or under the deep plunge pools of our waterfalls.
Today we live by other sets of law also but importantly we still live on the land we were born to. I live with my families on my fathers fathers country. Some of this land is on the Kakadu National Park Lease. We traditional owners play active roles in the joint management of the Park and govern the Indigenous Associations that cater for various needs of us Bininj, such as community services and commercial enterprise.
Jonathan Nadji is chairperson of the Djabulugku Association and of the Joint Board of Management of Kakadu National Park. He is regional representative of ATSIC. As son of the late Bill Neidji (Kakadu Man) he is a Traditional Owner of Bunitj clan lands.
Country
The country of Kakadu National Park is situated in the Wet Dry Tropics of the Top End of Australia. There are a broad array of landforms, diverse vegetation associations and related fauna. Ancient geological strata underly and support river systems, and recently established flood plains and coastlines with current sea levels stabilising only 6000 years ago.
The regions habitats or landscapes sustains unique ecology’s that respond to the country’s seasonal extremes.
- Open Woodlands - are dominated by Eucalyptus, shrubs and grasses.
- Stone Country - takes in the ancient escarpment of the Arnhem Plateau and its outliers which are habitat to many endemic species of plant and animal and where the incredible galleries of rock art are found.
- Rivers and Billabongs - are the productive areas that connect annually by wet season flooding
- Floodplains - the silted platforms of Kakadu’s wetlands that carry huge expanses of water that submerge the rivers at the peak of wet season
- Monsoon Forests - pocket areas along escarpment edge, spring fed streams and gorges – the place to be during the hottest and driest months
- Paperbark Swamps - occur in areas of poor drainage that eventually dry out unlike the permanent water of the billabongs.
- Mangrove Forests- fringe the river esturaries and much of the coastline controlling the massive silt out-pourings that steadily increase the area of country.
- Shore-Line- is mainly mud flat where it is not mangrove forest with small areas of shallow sandy beach.
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