Drought Leads Australians to Seek Ancient Aboriginal Solutions

May 26, 2007

Why bother with “indigenous knowledge” (IK)? Those of us raised on the virtues of Western science tend to look askance at traditional knowledge, much of it pre-Western and decidedly outside the usually accepted paradigm of “the scientific method.”

Well, a growing number of Australians have a ready answer.

As drought-stricken farmers pray for rain, Australia’s weather forecasters are turning increasingly to ancient Aboriginal knowledge in their attempts to understand the country’s weather.

A prolonged drought, known as “the big dry,” has driven snakes into towns in search of water and sent thirst-crazed wild camels rampaging through outback camps.

Where modern meteorologists base their forecasts on satellites and synoptic charts, Aborigines observe the flight of black cockatoos and the flowering of wattle bushes. And they say a change in the weather is coming.

“The cockys [cockatoos] are flocking everywhere. That’s usually a good sign that rain is coming,” said Jeremy Clark, an Aboriginal park ranger from the south of Australia.

“The way the flora and plants and shrubs are starting to react, I’d certainly be expecting rain.”

More than two centuries after Australia was colonized by Britain, there is a belated recognition that 40,000 years of Aboriginal experience in weather-watching can offer valuable lessons.

Residents of the southern, most populated parts of the country can now consult the Indigenous Weather Knowledge on the official website of Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology at www.bom.gov.au.

Aboriginal weather philosophy is based on the principle that subtle changes to plants and animals provide clues about changes in the weather.

“People have been using these relationships since long before Western society was underway,” says Dr. Harvey Stern, a climatologist.

“We’re interested to see the way they’re describing the plants, the animals, and the seasons all as one body of knowledge.”

In the Northern territory, when fruit bats move from bushland to river banks, Aborigines know that the rainy season is on the way. Aboriginal weathermen claim that their predictions are 90% accurate and as reliable as the evening TV forecasts.

The simple fact is that European colonization buried or willfully ignored extraordinary amounts of indigenous knowledge, from Inca bridge-building technologies to African herbal remedies. There is a dawning realization in the West – but far more importantly, an increasing awareness among indigenous peoples themselves – that the world needs access to that knowledge again.

And in the process, aided by emerging technologies, new generations of indigenous learners can become serious players in the 21st century, standing proudly on the shoulders of previous generations.