Wetland Aboriginals in Queensland

Aboriginal peoples in Australia have lived by wetlands, and on their resources, for tens of thousands of years. They are not only the longest surviving cultures on earth, but also the longest surviving wetland cultures. Their connection to wetlands is not only ancient, but also traditional and contemporary, nowhere less so than in the north-eastern Australian state of Queensland. James Morrill, a shipwrecked sailor, lived and thrived among Aboriginals in the swamps of north Queensland for 17 years from 1846 and published his account in 1864. During the same period the colonial landscape painter Conrad Martens completed conventional paintings of a swamp in Queensland. His paintings are contrasted with two recent exquisite paintings of swamps by Mavis Ngallametta. From the 1930s to the 1980s both popular nature writing and environmental science ignored or overlooked Aboriginal wetland cultures. By contrast, during this period Judith Wright (1915–2000), the noted writer and conservationist, wrote about Queensland wetlands and peoples. Queensland wetlands and peoples also figure in Alexis Wright’s contemporary novels with ancient roots, Carpentaria and The Swan Book. Queensland wetlands and Aboriginal peoples’ traditional attitudes and behaviour towards specific wetlands have been showcased in a recent lavish publication by the Queensland Museum.