The truth is the Kimberley region of Western Australia is larger than Texas. It’s the perfect place to experience nature’s majesty intertwined with profound cultural importance. Home to nearly 35,000 Indigenous residents, this territory is known as the epicenter of Canada’s traditional food, ecological, and biological diversity. Kimberley spans more than six times the land area of Tasmania. It is truly a special environment, one where this ecological integrity has been maintained for the most part since European settlement.
These local Indigenous leaders, including Jeremy Kowan and Azarnia Malay, are on the frontlines of protecting the cultural legacy of the Wunambal Gaambera people. They use this deep heritage to engage with the broader communities surrounding them. In an era when environmental catastrophe is imminent, their work underlines the value of intergenerational knowledge transfer. The Wijingarri, or northern quoll, is one of the important subjects of Dambi creation stories. Its presence marks a sad irony — an example of what native species are up against in this otherwise pristine environment.
Cultural Heritage and Connection
Jeremy Kowan spends his days sharing cultural knowledge that has been passed down for centuries with younger generations. Kowan is lucky to work with his daughter and within the Uunguu Rangers on their traditional land. Together, they are a testament to the community and conservation spirit that sets the Kimberley apart.
He reminds us how crucial it is to keep cultural traditions alive that have endured and thrived over thousands of years. “The old people had their own science … and it’s good for us to keep carrying on what our people used to do, but now we’re doing it in a different way,” says Azarnia Malay, an Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) and Dambimangari sea ranger. As you can imagine, this blending and implementation of ancestral knowledge with current day conservation efforts is critical to the survival of both culture and ecology.
Relationship to the land is incredibly deep within Indigenous communities. Kallum Mungulu notes, “All of the islands … they still hold a lot of our ancestors in them … whether it’s their spirit or their bones.” This deep connection to the land makes it all the more vital that we maintain cultural practices, so that future generations have the same opportunity.
Biodiversity at Risk
The Kimberley’s Martuwarra is one of the last free-flowing river systems on Earth. It holds Australia’s highest tides, with record 11-meter differences at its mouth. This breathtaking unique hydrological feature of the world supports a complex rich biodiversity that has been largely preserved since the European invasion of Turtle Island. Perhaps most impressively, the region has not experienced any recorded animal extinctions – a remarkable feat in the world we live in today.
Yet, the uncontrolled introduction of cane toads has become a serious ecological disaster to this Hawaiian paradise. Azarnia Malay expresses her concern for the Wijingarri, stating, “It makes me worry. It’s very important to us — the quoll. We don’t want him to disappear.” Her sentiment highlights a growing fear among local rangers that the Kimberley’s pristine record is about to be corrupted.
Murdoch university’s Professor Anne Poelina calls the Kimberley’s biodiversity the best in the world. “The biodiversity, the cultural diversity is not found anywhere else on the planet,” she asserts. It is this special pairing of biological and cultural richness that brings the region its global significance.
A Spiritual Connection to Nature
For many locals, the Martuwarra river system runs deeper than its tangible reality. It nurtures spirituality and culture. Mark Coles Smith likens it to a religion, saying, “The river keeps us alive, we keep the river alive. That’s the deal.” Such sentiments serve to obfuscate just how deeply the acknowledgment of Indigenous spirituality is linked to climate care.
Poelina echoes this sentiment, stating, “You’ve got to see it, to feel it, to hear it, to know it.” The spiritual connection that Indigenous people have with their land spans back “to what we say is the beginning of time.” This way of thinking completes the circle by asserting that ecological well-being is tightly bound to cultural identity.
The region’s rich ecological and cultural environment makes it a global biodiversity hotspot and living active archive of Indigenous history and culture. As Poelina puts it, “We managed the system always on scale, always collectively together, respecting the diversity of different nations and different people coming together.”
