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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Lawrence and Nicholas Dugong on a small motor dinghy at sea, hunting for dugong and marine turtles. In voice-over Lawrence explains how the brothers inherited their surname from their father, who was given the name because he was a good dugong hunter. Lawrence prepares a harpoon and explains how important hunting dugong and marine turtle is to the Lardil people’s culture. Towards the end of the clip, the brothers interrupt their dugong hunt to follow turtle tracks along the beach to find eggs.

Educational value points

• Hunting Dugong dugong and collecting turtle eggs are important activities for the Lardil people of Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Their importance stems from the history of dugong and turtle as major food sources when the people 'didn’t know anything about bullock meat or any other meat’ and from the sharing of the meat and eggs with community members as part of a network of kinship and social obligation.

• In the clip the Dugong brothers continue long cultural traditions when they draw on the resources of their country. While they hunt the dugong in a modern dinghy with an outboard motor, the harpoon that Lawrence is seen preparing follows the traditional design of a two-pronged head connected to a wooden shaft. When collecting turtle eggs, they scrutinise the sand for tracks and dig up the eggs by hand.

• Most of the world’s dugong population lives in northern Australian waters, generally in warm shallow waters to 15 m in depth, particularly sheltered inshore and reef areas where they can feed on extensive beds of seagrass. Dugongs live for up to 70 years, are up to 3 m in length and can weigh up to 400 kg. Females produce one calf every three to seven years after a gestation period of one year and nurse their calves for the first year or two of life.

• The turtle eggs in the clip are probably those of the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) or the Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). Marine turtles have long life expectancies, taking 20 to 50 years to reach maturity. They spend most of their lives at sea, but resurface to breathe and return to their beaches to lay eggs. Marine turtles lay 50 to 130 eggs per clutch depending on the species.

• Australian federal and state legislation recognise the importance of hunting and fishing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies and allow for the hunting of dugong and the collection of turtle eggs by local Indigenous people subject to various restrictions. In 1980 the Indigenous exemptions from total hunting and collection bans were known as 'sea closures’ and, as described in the clip, one such exemption applied to the Mornington Island area.

This clip starts approximately 7 minutes into the documentary.

Lawrence Dugong sits at the back of a small powerboat. His brother Nicholas stands on the bow of the boat, looking for dugong or turtles. Lawrence’s voice is heard as narration.
Lawrence Dugong My name is Lawrence Dugong. My brother Nicholas is the engine driver. How we got the name Dugong, because of our father. His name was Jimmy Dugong. That’s an English name – Jimmy – and they gave him the other name – Dugong – because he was a good hunter. The men in the boat, they got to be, you know, very important because when you’re going out on a hunting trip, you’ve got to keep your eyes out for the dugong or the turtle. If you find a dugong or a turtle, you know you’ve got to be very lucky. Why the European’s not allowed to go and do hunting after turtle and dugong, ‘cause it’s against the law. White people are not allowed to kill any animals from the sea. The dugong is so important to our people because of a shortage of beef. But, in the early days, our people here used to live off the land. They didn’t know anything about bullock meat or any other beef but just turtle or dugong. It’s part of our food. On our way out, to our hunting ground, we keep our eyes open, you know, watch out for turtles going up to lay eggs on the beach or we just go up and – you know— dig the eggs.

Lawrence and Nicholas dig for turtle eggs on the beach.
Nicholas 50.
Lawrence That’s all, mate. Ah, 51.
Interviewer That’s the lot?
Lawrence That’s the lot, mate. 51 – 51 eggs.

Nicholas stands at the bow of the boat, harpoon at the ready.