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Traditional harvesters of stems for didjeridus
use an axe, are very selective and only take a few branches.
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Eucalyptus tintinans illegally harvested
in the Yinberrie Hills. This tree was cut at the main stem rather
than the branch.
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Recent research into the harvest of native
timbers for the didjeridu market suggest that it may be reaching
unsunstainable levels in some areas of the NT’s Top End. A
former TS–CRC Honours student Josh Forner is building on his
Honours work in a PhD examining the impacts of current harvest
levels on these tree populations. By Kathryn Thorburn .
On Aboriginal Jawoyn lands near Katherine in the Northern
Territory, Josh found substantial harvesting of stems for
didjeridus, despite the fact that commercial harvesting in this
area is illegal. These stems are mostly taken by commercial cutters
with little or no affiliation with Aboriginal groups of central and
eastern Arnhem Land who regard themselves as the originators of the
instrument. The total production of instruments by non-Aboriginal
people may run into the tens, and perhaps hundreds, of thousands
every year.
The techniques and volume of modern harvests differ hugely from
traditional harvesting. These involved small groups of Aboriginal
men using axes to collect the stems of several species of Eucalypt
(E. miniata, E. tetradonta and E. phoenicea) and a native bamboo
(Bambusa arnhemica). The Eucalypts tend to have branches naturally
hollowed by termites, while the bamboo is naturally hollow, an
attribute considered essential for an authentic didj sound.
Traditionally, tree limbs were selected carefully to ensure that
the impact was minimal. The harvest volume was limited to what men
could carry.
Scheme aims to legitimise industry
Staff from the PWCNT in Katherine are working
with Aboriginal people and didjeridu harvesters to create a tagging
scheme for the industry. Under this scheme the Commission would
issue legitimate harvesters with tags for insertion into stems at
harvest time. Each stem could then be followed through from harvest
to point of sale. It is hoped that the system will increase the
value of tagged stems, by giving them greater legitimacy in the
market place. A similar system is in place in Western Australia,
where many stems are harvested around Kalgoorlie, and another is
being developed in Queensland.
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Now harvests take the form of groups of people, often
non-indigenous, collecting the stems of various species with
chainsaws and transporting dozens of stems in four wheel drives and
even helicopters. In addition to the total volume of material being
removed, Josh also is concerned about the sheer intensity of the
commercial cutters’ stem harvest. “I have come across
tracts of land where the trees have hardly any limbs left,”
he said. “Some are felled one foot from the ground. The
impact on the tree population is plain enough to see, but there are
also many birds and animals relying on these hollow limbs for
shelter and nesting. It is much harder to measure these effects in
terms of the broader ecology.”
Josh plans to leave aside the obvious issues of intellectual
property rights that commercial harvesting raises. Instead, he is
assessing the actual and potential impacts of current harvest
regimes on population dynamics of Eucalyptus woodlands. He is also
looking at methods for estimating the distribution and density of
tree species suitable for didjeridu harvest.
Where possible, Josh hopes to involve local Aboriginal people in
establishing experimental harvest plots which will be monitored
using a combination of field ecology and remote sensing
technologies. His research is being supported by the Key Centre for
Tropical Wildlife Management, the Parks and Wildlife Commission of
the Northern Territory, the Jawoyn Association and the NTU Remote
Sensing and GIS Group.
In the longer term, data from Josh’s work may be
integrated with other information to produce a framework to manage
didjeridu harvests. This could form a blueprint for harvests
occurring in other parts of northern Australia.
