Reptiles
Freshwater turtle
ngujayChelidae: Emydura, Myuchelys, Elseya and Chelodina species
Ngujay is the Kuku Yalanji word for the freshwater turtle[1], the river turtle of the creeks and waterholes, as opposed to ngawiya, the sea turtle. Across North Queensland Roth found river turtles caught by hand or with small nets; on the Palmer River they were killed by breaking the neck[2].
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
Turtles are food on the Hann. A Thaypan man told the Federal Court: 'We get wallaby, barramundi, freshwater fish and turtles and mussels'[12]. Four kinds are on record around the middle Hann, two short-necked and two long-necked[13], and Kuku Thaypan Elders read the fat long-neck turtle as a sign of the season[14].
Which turtles live here
The Atlas of Living Australia holds 57 freshwater turtle records (1968–2025) in a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann, Laura and western Rinyirru. The commonest is Krefft's river turtle (Emydura macquarii, 27 records), then the saw-shelled turtle (10), the northern snake-necked turtle (Chelodina rugosa, 8) and Cann's snake-necked turtle (Chelodina canni, 6)[13]. The northern yellow-faced turtle described above is not among them. Look for them in the deep permanent holes of the river and in the lagoons.
Its year here
In the dry, the deep permanent waterholes of Rinyirru hold 'waterbirds, turtles and crocodiles'. There 'long-necked turtles are also ambush hunters. They sometimes conceal themselves in sediment at the bottom of the waterhole and, using their long neck, strike with speed and accuracy, engulfing small fish and shrimps'[15]. The crocodiles of those holes take turtles too[15]. The Hann never stops running, so its holes hold water through the late dry[16]. Feral pigs are a threat: around swamps they 'dig up large areas of soil, eat the bulbs of water lilies and turtle eggs'[17].
Seasons here
Kuku Thaypan Elders read the country's signs to time their burning. In the lead-up to the burning season, when the wetlands begin drying out (about January to April), their indicators include Nye Koil, the 'Longneck Freshwater Turtle', being fat, alongside 'Fat Goanna' and 'Healthy Possums'[14].
How people used it here
Thaypan and Possum. 'We get wallaby, barramundi, freshwater fish and turtles and mussels'[12]. A man who identifies as Thaypan and Possum said: 'I have rights to take resources without permission in my traditional areas. Like fishing, and turtle, camping, cutting trees, take animals etc.' He added: 'There are strict rules that you don't take too much'[12][18].
Kuku Warra (Laura). A Kuku Warra man gave the Court his knowledge of 'hunting, cooking and eating different types of turtle'[19].
Roth, about 1900. The two killing methods described above come from this side of the range: behind Princess Charlotte Bay a stiff wooden bristle was pushed through the nostril, and on the Palmer the neck was broken[2].
Story. The long-necked turtle has a place in the stories of Rinyirru, told by its Traditional Owners[15]. Those stories belong to their custodians.
On country today
The upper Hann is the Possum People's country and the middle and lower Hann are Thaypan country, both recognised in November 2023[18][12]. Turtles are protected, but native title holders taking them for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs do not need the licences others need[20]. Rinyirru's Traditional Owners are the Lama Lama and Kuku Thaypan peoples[15].
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
The upper Mitchell around Karma Waters is turtle country, with northern yellow-faced and saw-shelled turtles the commonest kinds on record[4].
Where it lives here
The Atlas of Living Australia has northern yellow-faced turtle records within 30 km of the Karma Waters homestead, one of them about 11 km to the west, and a snapping turtle (Elseya) recorded about 25 km to the south-east. About 30 km east, on the Mitchell, a 1973 museum survey collected large series of both northern yellow-faced and saw-shelled turtles. A northern snake-necked turtle and a few Krefft's turtles have also been recorded in the upper Mitchell country[4]. Look for them in the long, permanent pools of the river.
Safety here
The crocodile recorded around Karma Waters is the freshwater crocodile, ngawurr-ngawun[1][4]. It is usually shy, but a big one can give a serious bite[21].
On country today
Native title. The 2013 Western Yalanji determinations recognise rights to hunt, fish and gather on the land and waters for personal, domestic and non-commercial communal purposes[22]. A further Western Yalanji determination followed in August 2026[23]. Section 211 of the Native Title Act 1993 means native title holders hunting for those needs do not need the licences and permits other people need[24].
At Karma Waters. The station's agreement with the Western Yalanji Traditional Owners was the first on pastoral land in Australia[25]. Ask the Traditional Owners before taking anything from their country, and follow the station's rules: no weapons or hunting dogs, and no recreation access from 1 December to 1 April[26].
At Karma Waters. Karma Waters Station falls under the earlier 1998 Western Yalanji or 'Sunset' Peoples v Pedersen consent determination, the first consent determination of native title over a pastoral property in Australia[27][28]. See the Karma Waters guide for what it covers, and ask the Traditional Owners and the station before hunting, fishing or gathering.
Eastern coast Eastern Kuku Yalanji
Eastern Kuku Yalanji country: rainforest, beaches, mangroves, reef and the short steep rivers from the Daintree to the Bloomfield and the Annan.
Bloomfield Kuku Yalanji went to the freshwater streams for 'eelfish and freshwater tortoise', especially in the dry season[3]. They caught turtles on bark lines with lawyer-cane thorn hooks, and by the 1970s by diving with goggles and a steel rod[3].
Seasons here
At Bloomfield, freshwater tortoise was a dry-season food. Inland groups, which camped on sandy creek beds in the dry, split into small family groups and set up temporary 'branch' camps to go after eelfish, tortoises, wallabies and goannas. Coastal people made seasonal trips inland to the freshwater streams 'for eelfish and freshwater tortoise'[3].
Uses here
At Bloomfield ngujay was one of the foods small family groups went after from their temporary dry-season camps[3].
How it was caught here
Hook and line (Bloomfield Kuku Yalanji)[3]:
- Make a line from the bark of Sterculia quadrifolia.
- Make a hook from a lawyer-cane thorn.
- Bait it with grubs, small freshwater prawns or small frogs.
- Fish the freshwater creeks and waterholes. Lines were used here for turtle, eelfish, catfish and perch, and this was mostly women's work.
Diving (Bloomfield Kuku Yalanji, late 1970s). In the inland creeks people dived for freshwater eelfish and turtles, using diving goggles and a flexible steel rod[3]. Mala-kural is 'a good diver'[1].
Everywhere
Names
The dictionary gives ngujay 'freshwater turtle'[1]. It is a different animal and a different word from the sea turtle, ngawiya[1]. The shell of a turtle is kadan. The more general word dumbul covers 'any hard covering such as bark of a tree, crust of bread, shell of turtle'[1].
Older English writers called river turtles 'tortoises', and Roth and Anderson both use that word. When they write 'freshwater tortoise', they mean ngujay[2][3].
Description
Two common river turtles of the north are these; both are recorded on the upper Mitchell[4].
- Northern yellow-faced turtle (Emydura tanybaraga). A short-necked turtle with a shell up to about 28.5 cm. A light yellow band runs from the eye back to above the ear, and another from the corner of the mouth along the neck. The shell is light to dark brown with a yellow or white rim, and the belly plate is bone-coloured[5].
- Saw-shelled turtle (Myuchelys latisternum). The back edge of the shell stays saw-toothed all its life, and the neck is covered in pointed bumps. Females grow to 28 cm of shell, males to about 18 cm. It is mainly a meat-eater, taking fish, tadpoles, frogs and crustaceans, and it will even tear up and eat cane toads. It can give off a strong smell and bites hard when handled[6].
What it can be confused with
- Northern yellow-faced turtle: short neck, a yellow stripe from the eye back and another from the mouth along the neck, smooth shell edge[5].
- Saw-shelled turtle: the back edge of the shell stays saw-toothed for life and the neck carries pointed bumps; it bites hard[6].
- Northern snake-necked turtle: a neck as long as the shell, folded sideways[4].
- Snapping turtles (Elseya): big and heavy-headed[4].
In the water, what you usually see is a head and nostrils at the surface, then nothing. The length of the neck and the shape of the head are the quickest tells.
Signs
- Basking on logs, rock bars and banks in the sun, and sliding off at the first movement on the bank. In the hot months they bask at night as well[7].
- Heads at the surface in the still water of the pool in the middle of the day.
- Tracks: paired flipper drags with a tail line between, running from the water to a nest hole dug in a sand bank from September to December[6].
- Dug-out nests: a scatter of leathery shell fragments beside a hole is a nest found by a goanna or a pig.
- Empty freshwater mussel shells on the bottom: the turtles are among the animals that open them[8].
Where it lives
River turtles live in the permanent pools, slow reaches, billabongs and paperbark swamps of the rivers[5]. The saw-shelled turtle ranges through rivers, streams, swamps and lagoons from Cape York to northern New South Wales[6].
Who eats whom, and when
The river turtles are the bottom workers of the waterhole. Australia's short-necked turtles (Emydura and Myuchelys) are omnivores: in clear water much of their food comes from the invertebrates on the bottom, snails, mussels, insect larvae and small crustaceans; in muddy water they take more filamentous algae and more land insects that fall in[8]. A relative switches to a meat diet when plant food runs short[8]. The saw-shelled turtle is the hunter of the two: fish, tadpoles, frogs and crustaceans, and it tears up and eats cane toads that kill most other animals[6]. So the turtles share the catfish's food, the snails and insect larvae of the sand, and take the small cherabin and dead fish the pool offers.
Who eats the turtle. The freshwater crocodile: turtles become a bigger part of its diet as it grows[9]. Eggs and hatchlings go to goannas, kites, pigs and big fish; the adults' shell and bite are their defence[6]. People took turtles in the dry season, by hand, by diving and on lines[3].
Hour and season. Turtles work by day, feeding on the bottom and basking between feeds; the sources used here do not give a night-time account of the Mitchell species. Their year follows the pool: the dry season concentrates them in the permanent pools, where Bloomfield families went for them[3]; nesting runs from September to December, with the eggs hatching in about 60 days, so the hatchlings arrive with the first floods[6].
Seasons
Saw-shelled turtles nest from September to December, laying several clutches of 9–20 eggs that hatch in about 60 days[6]. Roth recorded that across North Queensland turtle eggs were eaten 'whenever found'[2].
Uses
Meat and eggs. Ngujay was hunted for food. Its eggs (diburr, which also means 'seed') were eaten too[1][2]. The dictionary's word minya covers 'meat, eggs (protein food)'[1].
How it was caught and cooked
By hand and with small nets (North Queensland generally). Roth's summary is simple: 'Tortoises are caught in the hands or with small nets'[2]. His small folding hand-nets, described for fish, were worked by one person groping about the shallower waterholes with the net held in front or at the side[2].
Feeling with the feet. Roth recorded people groping carefully along the mud with their feet to catch catfish on the Georgina River[2]. None of the sources describes feeling for turtles the same way.
Killing. Two neighbouring methods are recorded[2]:
- Palmer River (Koko-minni): pull the head well forwards, then break the neck upwards and backwards.
- Behind Princess Charlotte Bay: push a stiff wooden bristle through the nostril into the brain and spinal cavity, and work it up and down.
Cooking. At Bloomfield, reptiles were cooked straight on the fire after the body had been bashed with an axe to break the bones[3]. Roth describes the simplest cooking as laying the food 'on and in the hot ashes'[2], the dictionary's dindal 'to roast on coals'; nulu is 'ashes' and ngunjil 'hot coals or hot ashes'[1]. Bigger animals went into the stone oven (kurrma). Hot stones were lifted with lawyer-cane tongs into a pit, and the meat, with eucalyptus, acacia or wild-ginger leaves, was set in a bark trough on the stones. More hot stones went around and on top, then tea-tree bark, and everything was covered with sand or earth for several hours[3]. Food that is 'well cooked, done' is jani[1].
Safety
Turtles bite. The saw-shelled turtle bites hard when handled[6]. Keep fingers away from the head.
Crocodile water. Diving and groping in waterholes is exactly what Crocwise warns against wherever saltwater crocodiles could be: in croc country, keep out of the water and stay well back from the edge[10].
On Country today
The law. Freshwater turtles are protected native animals under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992, and anyone else needs a licence or permit to take them[11]. If a turtle takes your bait, unhook it gently and let it go.
Native title holders' rights differ from place to place: see each place above, and ask the Traditional Owners before hunting, fishing or gathering.
Language
ngujay 'freshwater turtle'; ngawiya 'sea turtle'; kadan 'shell of turtle'; diburr 'egg'; jamal 'white of egg'; birukay 'yolk of the egg'; mala-kural 'good diver'; baral 'to feel something', as in nyulu nguwul-nguwulbu torch baran-baral 'He was feeling for his torch in the dark'[1].
Images
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 R. Hislop. — Sect. 3 'Food in season'; sect. 5 'Preparations for cooking meats'; sect. 6 'Cooking'; sect. 15 (a) and (i); sect. 18 'Turtles and Tortoises' archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Anderson, C. (1996). Traditional material culture of the Kuku-Yalanji of Bloomfield River, North Queensland. Records of the South Australian Museum 29(1): 63–83. — Seasonal rounds; fishing (hook and line); 'Cooking processes and associated implements'; material culture in the late 1970s hdl.handle.net/2440/13994
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records for Emydura, Myuchelys, Elseya, Chelodina and Crocodylus within 30 km of Karma Waters homestead (16.62° S, 144.60° E) and in the upper Mitchell River area (lat −17.0 to −15.8, long 144.3 to 145.12), queried 5 October 2026. Sources include WildNet (Queensland), the Queensland Museum, University of Canberra, CAS and UMNH collections, and iNaturalist Australia. biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=taxon_name%3A%22Myuchelys%20latisternum%22
- Wikipedia. Emydura tanybaraga (northern yellow-faced turtle) (accessed 5 October 2026). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emydura_tanybaraga
- Wikipedia. Saw-shelled turtle, Myuchelys latisternum (accessed 5 October 2026). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saw-shelled_turtle
- Nordberg, E. J. & McKnight, D. T. (2023). Seasonal, environmental and anthropogenic influences on nocturnal basking in turtles and crocodiles from North-Eastern Australia. Austral Ecology 48(8): 1516–1531. Night surveys of the Ross River, Townsville, March–November 2020: freshwater crocodiles and turtles basked at night significantly more in the hotter months, and more on the undeveloped bank. researchonline.jcu.edu.au/78463/
- Petrov, K. et al. The risk of inter-specific competition in Australian short-necked turtles (Emydura, Myuchelys): omnivory, benthic invertebrates in clear water, algae and terrestrial invertebrates in turbid water. researchers.westernsydney.edu.au/en/publications/the-risk-of-inter-specific-competition-in-australian-short-necked/
- Tucker, A. D., Limpus, C. J., McCallum, H. I. & McDonald, K. R. (1996). Ontogenetic dietary partitioning by Crocodylus johnstoni during the dry season. Copeia 1996(4): 978–988. 324 crocodiles stomach-flushed over three dry seasons in Queensland. doi.org/10.2307/1447669
- Queensland Government. Be Crocwise top tips (web page, accessed 5 October 2026). www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/animals/living-with/crocodiles/becrocwise/be-crocwise-top-tips
- Queensland Government, State of the Environment. Nature Conservation Act 1992. www.stateoftheenvironment.des.qld.gov.au/biodiversity/management-responses/legislation/nature-conservation-act-1992
- 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
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records for freshwater turtles (Chelidae) in a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann, Laura and western Rinyirru (latitude 15.6–14.8° S, longitude 143.5–144.3° E), holding 57 records (1968–2025): Krefft's river turtle (Emydura macquarii, 27 records, 1968–2025), saw-shelled turtle (Myuchelys latisternum, 10, 1968–2007), northern snake-necked turtle (Chelodina rugosa, 8, 2004–2023), Cann's snake-necked turtle (Chelodina canni, 6, 2004–2018), one record under the older name Chelodina oblonga (2007) and 5 not named to species (biocache query, accessed 28 October 2026). biocache-ws.ala.org.au/ws/occurrences/search
- 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, 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 Parks and Wildlife Service (2013). Rinyirru (Lakefield) Aggregation Management Statement 2013. parks.desi.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/165771/rinyirru.pdf
- 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
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 19) (Kuku Warra determination) [2023] FCA 1314 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1314
- Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), section 211: preservation of certain native title rights and interests (hunting, fishing and gathering for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs). www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text
- Australian Museum. Freshwater Crocodile, Crocodylus johnstoni (web page, accessed 5 October 2026). australian.museum/learn/animals/reptiles/freshwater-crocodile/
- Brady on behalf of the Western Yalanji People #4 v State of Queensland [2013] FCA 958 (Federal Court of Australia, 24 September 2013). www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2013/2013fca0958
- National Indigenous Times (13 August 2026). 'Western Yalanji determination brings Cape York native title to the finish line.' nit.com.au/13-08-2026/25941/western-yalanji-determination-brings-cape-york-native-title-to-the-finish-line
- Australian Law Reform Commission. Review of the Native Title Act 1993 (DP 82), ch. 8: Relevant provisions in the Native Title Act (s 211). www.alrc.gov.au/publication/review-of-the-native-title-act-1993-dp-82/8-the-nature-and-content-of-native-title/relevant-provisions-in-the-native-title-act/
- Karma Waters Station. About (web page, accessed 5 October 2026). www.karmawatersstation.com/about.html
- Karma Waters Station. Bush camping (web page, accessed 5 October 2026). www.karmawatersstation.com/bush-camping.html
- Western Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation & CRC for Developing Northern Australia (2020). Western Yalanji Land Use and Economic Diversification Plan. CC BY 4.0. — Western Yalanji story; historical timeline (Table 1); Native Title Determinations 1–4; ILUAs (Table 4); pastoral stations (Table 5); heritage sites crcna.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/westernyalanjilanduseplan_nov2020.pdf
- Karma Waters Station. About: location, native title (web page, accessed 5 October 2026). www.karmawatersstation.com/about.html
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