Skills & methods
Finding water
bana · jirka · yaral · ngabal · wawu-wulay
bana is water, yaral fresh water, jirka a spring, yirri running water, dajali deep water, yalkan shallow water, daburri 'brackish swamp water', ngabal a soak, and wawu-wulay thirsty[1]. Every river has its own year, so check the section for your place, and the waterhole page. Away from the river, Roth's 1901 account of the dry country is the manual: 'in times of scarcity, water is obtained from wells and from trees. Wells are usually dug in the beds of dried-up creeks or water-holes, and in close proximity to old swamps'; on the Pennefather, people tested a likely spot 'by driving a spear some 3 or 4 feet down into the ground and seeing whether the extremity is moist or not; if the quest be successful, a bunch of dried grass will then be rammed down. The grass acts as a strainer to the debris, and thus permits of the water being sucked up by means of a reed'; and 'in the hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay, on the Palmer and Pennefather Rivers, and elsewhere, the Melaleuca are the usual trees whence water may be derived', a pint or two of saltish water from the base of a bulge in a paperbark's butt[2]. The country tells you where water is: the line of river red gums, which are hardly ever 'found away from a watercourse'; the evening flight of the pigeons and finches, which 'must drink frequently'; the frogs calling; the flying foxes skimming at dusk; the green of the blady grass and the paperbarks in a dry gully[3][4][5].
Nothing is written for the Eastern coast on this page yet. What follows is true across the country.
Hann River Cape York
Possum People's country on the upper river and Thaypan (Kuku Thaypan) country downstream: stringybark and bloodwood woodland and a spring-fed sandy river that runs north-east from the Great Dividing Range, past the Peninsula Developmental Road, into Rinyirru (Lakefield) and the North Kennedy. Not Kuku Yalanji country: the Kuku Yalanji words on this page are the dictionary's, not the Hann's own languages. Place guide
On the Hann the river is the water. It is fed by springs in the sandstone and has not stopped running on a single day since its gauge at Sandy Creek opened in 1968[12][13]. In Kuku Thaypan law 'springs and wetlands are story places with the use of the water governed by the lore'[14], so finding water here also means knowing which water you may use.
Where the water is here
The river. Even at its lowest, in November 2010, the Hann at Sandy Creek still carried a daily mean of 0.037 cubic metres a second. Its flow is highest in February–March and lowest in September–November[12]. 'The larger springs in turn supply base flow to several streams including … Jungle Creek and the Hann River in the west'[13]. So in the late dry the Hann is a low, clear run between deep holes, not dry sand.
The plains. 'During the peak of the wet season (December to March), heavy rains cause the rivers to flood'; then 'For the next 6 months the floodplains and associated wetlands dry out and by October the land is brown and parched'[15]. At Musgrave, from June to September, the average rain is under 10 mm a month[16]. Away from the river, the late-dry water is in the permanent lagoons and the deep holes.
How the people of this country found water
Paperbark water (Kuku Thaypan). 'Indigenous cultural knowledge of the Elders explains how to extract water from Melaluca viridiflora when required. It is slightly salty but will provide hydration while travelling if you really need it, you just don't drink too much of it'[14]. It is the same kind of paperbark water Roth recorded in the hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay (see Where the water is, above)[2]. The broad-leaved paperbark is common here: the Atlas of Living Australia holds 131 records of M. viridiflora (1952–2022) in a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann, Laura and western Rinyirru[17].
Markers. 'Magnetic termite nests were used to place marker sticks pointing in direction for water bodies/land marks'[14]. See termites and ant beds.
Water trees. Kuku Thaypan knowledge includes 'water trees on certain watercourses', to be protected from hot fire to keep the water good[14]. Where they are is not for this page.
Teaching it. A Thaypan father told the Federal Court: 'I teach them how to find food and water and how to look after food and water sources'[18].
Safety here
- Carry your water. Rinyirru has 'no services and minimal facilities'; the rangers' list starts with 'adequate food and drinking water'[19].
- Crocodiles. Both crocodiles live in this river system; fill up back from the edge, never at the same spot twice. See crocodiles.
- Camp away from the drinking places. 'Avoid places where native animals and domestic stock drink'[19].
On country today
The lore of water. Under Kuku Thaypan law 'There are places you cannot disturb, cannot fish, cannot swim, cannot throw rocks or sticks, cannot toilet near, cannot wash in'[14]. Dr George taught 'that some areas such as springs should not be dug out', 'because often springs are story places'[14]. So don't dig a soak at a spring here, and ask the Traditional Owners before using water you don't know. The upper Hann is the Possum People's country, and the middle and lower Hann are Thaypan country[20][18].
Upper Mitchell Western Yalanji
Western Yalanji country west of the Great Dividing Range: dry open woodland cut by the sandy, paperbark-lined upper Mitchell River, around Karma Waters and Mount Carbine. Place guide
From about May to the first storms the Mitchell at Karma Waters 'is a chain of pools joined by trickles or dry sand', so the river itself is the first water, and the waterhole page is the first thing to read[9].
Where the water is here
The river. The Mitchell at Karma Waters runs in the wet and 'from about May to the first storms' is a chain of pools, deep holes at the bends and the rock bars, joined by trickles under the sand, so that there is always water somewhere along it and the question is which pool and how far[9]. The waterhole page has how to read a pool.
From trees. Roth's paperbark water (above) comes from the hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay and the Palmer and Pennefather rivers[2]. The Palmer is the next river north of Karma Waters, so that is this country's method.
On country today
Karma Waters is named for its water, and the station's river pools, springs and dams carry it through the dry; the old wells and tree water are the knowledge behind the name[9]. The Western Yalanji words for spring, soak and the named waters of the station are for the contribution box below.
Everywhere
Names
bana 'water'. yaral 'fresh water (opposite of kalki)', also 'cool, not too hot'. jirka 'spring'. yirri 'running water'. dajali 'deep water'; yalkan 'shallow water'; yarru 'deep water hole'. daburri 'brackish swamp water'. ngabal 'soak, leach'. wawu-wulay 'thirsty; exhausted, tired'. nukal 'to eat, to drink'. kima-kima 'easy crossing of water, water isn't rushing as during a flood'; jalungkarr 'flood'; marral 'dry'; wurrbal 'fog, mist rising from the river'; janku 'hole in the ground'; yilki 'creek'; wawubaja 'river'; yikin 'bank of river'; jalkar 'high bank'; jukar 'sand'[1].
Where the water is
Under the sand. Roth, 1901: 'In times of scarcity, water is obtained from wells and from trees. Wells are usually dug in the beds of dried-up creeks or water-holes, and in close proximity to old swamps. The coastal blacks along the mouth of the Tully River sink circular wells with digging-sticks: they are from 3 to 4 feet deep, about 2 feet in diameter, and are spoken of as pilmba. At Bentinck Island, I saw circular wells about 1 foot in diameter, and 2 feet in depth, dug in the sand above high-water mark along the coast-line.' 'On the Isaacs River, Leichhardt speaks of the natives having fenced a water-hole "round with branches to prevent the sand from filling it up."' 'In the Pennefather River district, in addition to being obtained from trees, water is also got by sinking. This is done in some likely spot — e.g., wherever the Pandanus grows in plenty — by driving a spear some 3 or 4 feet down into the ground and seeing whether the extremity is moist or not; if the quest be successful, a bunch of dried grass will then be rammed down. The grass acts as a strainer to the debris, and thus permits of the water being sucked up by means of a reed'[2].
From trees. 'In the hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay, on the Palmer and Pennefather Rivers, and elsewhere, the Melaleuca are the usual trees whence water may be derived. The butt of this tea-tree is ordinarily more or less circular in section, but every here and there is to be met one more or less lozenge-shaped, due to a lateral bulge. From the bases of these bulges, when cut, a pint or two of water is obtainable, which, though of a saltish taste, often proves very acceptable'[2]. Of the bottle tree or kurrajong Roth quotes Thozet: 'The natives refresh themselves with the mucilaginous sweet substance afforded by this tree. They cut holes in its soft trunk, where the water lodges and rots them to its centre, thus forming so many artificial reservoirs. On their hunting excursions afterwards, when thirsty, they tap them one or two feet below the old cuts and procure an abundant supply'[2]. And Flinders, in Torres Strait: 'Long slips of bark are tied round the smooth stems of the Pandanus, and the loose ends are led into the shells of the cockle placed underneath. By these slips, the rain, which runs down the branches and stem of the tree, is conducted into the shells, and fills them at every considerable shower; and as each shell will contain two or three pints, forty or fifty thus placed under different trees will supply a good number of men'[2]. The kurrajong page has the roots of the young tree as a water source besides.
Springs. The dictionary's jirka; the green of the paperbarks and blady grass in a dry gully marks a spring or a soak[1][6].
Reading the trees for water
- River red gum: 'commonly found along waterways and there are only a few locations where the species is found away from a watercourse'[3].
- Paperbark: the swamp and spring tree, and Roth's water-butt tree[2][6].
- Pandanus: Roth's 'likely spot' for sinking[2].
- Leichhardt tree and fig: bank trees, over a pool[6].
- Blady grass green in the dry: water under it.
- Ironbark and bloodwood on the ridge: dry country; see woodland[7].
Reading the animals for water
- Pigeons and finches flying low and straight in the late afternoon are going to drink; the bronzewing 'must drink frequently' and 'utilizes watering holes', and that daily walk to water was Roth's pigeon-netters' handle[4][2].
- Frogs calling at night: water or wet sand; see frogs.
- Flying foxes skimming at dusk: open water[5].
- Bees and wasps in numbers on a hot day, and dragonflies, are within a short flight of water; see native bees.
- Converging tracks of wallabies, cattle and pigs on a pad: follow them downhill.
- Cattle camped in the shade of a gully in the heat: water near.
- Dead silver fish on the surface of a pool: the water is foul; see the small fish[8].
The water country
The river's deep pools at the bends and rock bars; the springs at the foot of the ridges; the lagoons and swamps on the flats that hold after the wet; the sand of the dry creek beds, with water a spear's length down where the pandanus and paperbarks grow[9][2][6].
Everything comes to water
In the dry the water decides where everything is, and the waterhole page is the whole food web packed into a pool. The hunter's use of it is the old one: the pigeons at the made water-hole, the ducks at the lagoon, the wallabies netted on their 'beaten tracks to water', the cockatoos at the drinking log[2]. The crocodile knows it too; every pool in the chain is a crocodile's, and the saltwater crocodile is in the Mitchell too[10].
Seasons
Wet: the river runs, the roads close, jalungkarr; early dry: the chain of pools, the lagoons full; late dry, 'especially in the summer months when all the natural water-channels have dried up', the time of wells and tree water, and the hottest months before the storms[9][2][11]. See the year on country.
Uses
- Drinking water from pool, spring, soak, well or tree[2].
- Carrying it: the bailer shell, the bark trough, the paperbark bucket, Roth's cockle shells under the pandanus[2].
- Finding game: the water is where the animals will be[2].
- Leaching the poison foods needs running water; see leaching[1].
Finding water in the dry
- Carry water. On a working station in the dry, that is the first rule; the rest is for when it runs out.
- Go to the river and work along the chain of pools; the deep holes at the bends and the rock bars hold longest[9].
- Read the trees from a rise: a line of white gums and paperbarks is a creek; the green patch in a dry gully is a spring[3][6].
- Watch the birds at four o'clock: pigeons and finches fly straight to water in the late afternoon; follow their line[4].
- Dig a soak in the sand at the outside of a bend of a dry creek bed, or where the pandanus and paperbarks grow; Roth's test is a stick or spear driven down a metre to see if the point comes up damp. Dig a hole an arm deep and a knee wide, let it fill and clear, and ram a wad of dry grass in as a strainer; drink through a reed or dip with a cup[2].
- Fence a soak with branches 'to prevent the sand from filling it up' if you will come back[2].
- Tree water as a last resort: a lozenge-shaped bulge at the base of a paperbark, cut at its base, gives 'a pint or two' of salty water; a kurrajong's trunk can be tapped below an old cut[2].
- Boil or treat what you drink from a pool, and never drink from a pool with dead fish on it or cattle in it[8].
- Mind the crocodile at every pool; fill from a place with a clear view, back from the edge, not the same place twice[10].
Safety
- Crocodiles at every pool and soak in the river bed; see Crocwise and the saltwater crocodile[10].
- Foul water: a pool going bad kills the bony bream first; do not drink it[8].
- Heat: the late dry on the Mitchell is the hottest time of the year, and wawu-wulay is 'thirsty; exhausted, tired' in one word[11][1].
- Floods: kima-kima is the easy crossing, 'water isn't rushing as during a flood'; the other kind is not crossed[1].
Language
bana 'water'; yaral 'fresh water'; jirka 'spring'; yirri 'running water'; dajali 'deep water'; yalkan 'shallow water'; yarru 'deep water hole'; daburri 'brackish swamp water'; ngabal 'soak'; wawu-wulay 'thirsty'; nukal 'to drink'; jalungkarr 'flood'; kima-kima 'easy crossing'; wurrbal 'fog'; juwal 'digging stick'; bakal 'dig'[1].
References
- Hershberger, H. D. & Hershberger, R. (1982). Kuku-Yalanji Dictionary. Work Papers of SIL-AAB, Series B, Volume 7. With Toby Bloomfield, Roy Friday, Billy Roberts, Hector and Doris Sykes, Joe Walker and others. www.sil.org/resources/archives/18038
- Roth, W. E. (1901). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 3: Food — its search, capture, and preparation. Brisbane: Government Printer. Bloomfield River information from the Hislops. — Sect. 6 'Cooking'; plant list ('Castanospermum australe', 'Dioscorea sativa', 'Elettaria Scottiana', 'Nymphaea') archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Wikipedia. Eucalyptus camaldulensis (river red gum). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_camaldulensis
- Wikipedia. Common bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_bronzewing
- Wikipedia. Little red flying fox. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_red_flying_fox
- Queensland Herbarium, Regional Ecosystem 9.3.14 (Einasleigh Uplands): Melaleuca fringing woodland on channels and levees. Fire management guidelines. Queensland Government Regional Ecosystem Description Database. apps.des.qld.gov.au/regional-ecosystems/details/?re=9.3.14
- Queensland Herbarium, Regional Ecosystem 9.11.26 (Einasleigh Uplands): Eucalyptus leptophleba and/or E. cullenii and/or Corymbia clarksoniana +/- E. platyphylla woodland on undulating terrain to rolling hills. Fire management guidelines. Queensland Government Regional Ecosystem Description Database. apps.des.qld.gov.au/regional-ecosystems/details/?re=9.11.26
- Wikipedia. Bony bream (Nematalosa erebi). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bony_bream
- Karma Waters Station. About: location, native title (web page, accessed 5 October 2026). www.karmawatersstation.com/about.html
- Queensland Government. Be Crocwise top tips; Be Crocwise in Croc Country (web pages, accessed 5 October 2026). www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/animals/living-with/crocodiles/becrocwise/be-crocwise-top-tips
- Bureau of Meteorology. Climate statistics for Australian locations: Palmerville (station 028004), records from 1889 (accessed 5 October 2026). www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_028004.shtml
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online. Station 105001B, Hann River at Sandy Creek: daily and monthly mean discharge 1968–2026 (recent data provisional), retrieved 28 October 2026. No day of zero mean flow in 20,711 days of record; mean flow highest in February–March, lowest in September–November. www.bom.gov.au/waterdata/
- Queensland Government, WetlandInfo. Normanby catchment story: physical features (springs and base flow). wetlandinfo.detsi.qld.gov.au/wetlands/ecology/processes-systems/water/catchment-stories/normanby/norm-physical.html
- Standley, P.-M. (2019). The importance of campfires to effective conservation. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Records the fire and country knowledge of Kuku Thaypan Elders Dr Tommy George and Dr George Musgrave. researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64274/
- Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. Nature, culture and history: Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL) (web page, last updated 1 July 2024; accessed 28 October 2026). parks.qld.gov.au/parks/rinyirru-lakefield/about/culture
- Bureau of Meteorology. Climate statistics for Australian locations: Musgrave (station 028007, 79 m), 1887–2012. www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_028007.shtml
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of Melaleuca viridiflora (131 records, 1952–2022) in a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann River, Laura and western Rinyirru (lat −15.6 to −14.8, long 143.5 to 144.3), queried 28 October 2026. biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=*%3A*&fq=decimalLatitude%3A%5B-15.6%20TO%20-14.8%5D&fq=decimalLongitude%3A%5B143.5%20TO%20144.3%5D
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 20) (Thaypan determination) [2023] FCA 1315 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). — Determination area and waters; prescribed body corporate (Awu-Laya Indigenous Corporation); affidavit evidence on hunting www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1315
- Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. Visiting Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL) safely (web page, last updated 1 June 2025; accessed 28 October 2026). parks.qld.gov.au/parks/rinyirru-lakefield/visiting-safely
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 21) (Possum determination) [2023] FCA 1316 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). — Determination area (upper Hann and Kennedy rivers); prescribed body corporate; affidavit evidence on hunting and fishing www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1316
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