The Martu Leadership group met for the first gathering of the year at a two-day meeting held in Roy Hill Mining Camp. This meeting enabled the group to reflect on the work that had been done in 2018 and to start planning what they would like to focus on this year.

In April, KJ rangers gathered at Nifty Mine to undertake Incendiary Machine Operator (IMO) training; a critical role in aerial burning operations.

Rangers and elders have conducted helicopter mapping and waru work out of Parnngurr and Punmu. Two very important rock holes were found — Jiman and Juntiwa — as well as having the chance to capture elders’ stories.

Recently, the Kunawarritji rangers took a couple of Newman police officers out on country. The group ventured to soaks, checked tourist permits and visited a number of important sites. Read the diary entry from the team.

The development of a digital app for Martu to use on country is currently underway! As Martu travel country, this app is planned to show the names and locations of kalyu (waterholes) and share the stories and histories of Martu elders.

KJ ranger teams have been carrying out mankarr (bilby) surveys as part of the mankarr monitoring project. This work, over time, will monitor population size, distribution and assess habitat health.

The detection of a quoll in 2012 in Karlamilyi National Park – about 200 kilometres away from other known records – prompted DBCA researchers and KJ Martu Rangers to broaden the search for quolls in the Great Sandy Desert. What they’ve found indicates quolls occur far more extensively than first thought.

A study of how the Martu shaped their land presents an example where humans seem to benefit an environment perceived as wilderness.