Standard Presentation (15 mins) - Edits Required Australian Marine Sciences Association 2022

Why defining Indigenous Cultural Mapping for Sea Country matters (#187)

Redbird Ferguson 1 2 , Karen Joyce 1 2 , Christian Reepmeyer 3 4 , Rachel Groom 5 , Kellie Pollard 6 , Gudju Gudju Fourmile 7 8
  1. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Smithfield, QLD, Australia
  2. AIMS@JCU, Australian Institute of Marine Science and James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
  3. Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures (KAAK), German Archaeological Institute, Bonn, Germany
  4. College of Arts, Sciences, and Education, James Cook University, Smithfield, QLD, Australia
  5. AIMS@CDU, Australian Institute of Marine Science and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia
  6. College of Indigenous Futures, Education, and the Arts, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia
  7. Gimuy Walubara Yidninji Elders Corporation, Cairns, QLD, Australia
  8. Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

The dual threats of climate change and anthropogenic impacts pose increasing challenges for Australia’s Sea Country. The Indigenous Knowledges of Northern Australia’s coastlines and the Great Barrier Reef are not well integrated into managing Sea Country. Indigenous Knowledges are unique local knowledges of place, connecting nature, politics, and ethics,  guiding relationships between people, animals, and ancestors. Indigenous Cultural Mapping is a method that is frequently used to bring together Indigenous Knowledges and western scientific knowledge to support governance and assessment of Sea Country. The method is poorly defined in the literature which leads to inconsistent practice and outcomes. We undertook a scoping review and present the results to date here as part of the continuing aim to establish a working definition for Indigenous Cultural Mapping and provide recommendations on best practice in the literature to inform legislation, policy, and procedures.