Macca's Meanderings

Greetings from Croker Island. Recently, we had a team of scientists from the Commonwealth Government's Biosecurity Department visit to conduct a plant and insect survey. Garngi Rangers assisted. Biosecurity Australia are keen to keep out unwanted plants, insects and diseases that would cause major issues for our agricultural industries further south. Below a plant scientists explains to Charlie how the scientific Latin plant naming system works. Other scientists were interested in insects, grubs, mites etc. Rangers Shaun and Charlie found some interesting grubs.  Below - a Quince tree which is a weed in northern Australia. It was thought to be eradicated here however these were discovered. The gadget below is an insect trap which we set up at the edge of the floodplain. It has a light which attracts insects at night and then a small fan draws the insects into the trap and the bottle of preserving fluid at the bottom. When we returned the next morning the bottle at the bottom of the...

On Easter Saturday we received a request from a member of the Yarmirr family to take them fishing as they do not have a vehicle. Nancy had other things on - maybe next time. They wanted to fish at the mouth of a creek that drains the water from the floodplain into Palm Bay. Below Ian is preparing his line for action.  Below the other members of Ian's family catching some fish. Bryan tried some lures however bait seemed to be the only thing working.  The word was that the previous day just on dusk and on the incoming tide some big barramundi were caught in this location. In the meantime Bryan decided to put the drone up and have look around. Just down the beach was a smallish crocodile just drifting along close to the waters edge. See short video below. Flying back along the beach passed the Yarmirr family just in time to seeing a small salmon being pulled in.  The photo below from the drone up high shows the mouth of the creek with part of the floodplain in the background...

 A very warm and 'sticky' greeting from Croker Island. Recently we had two Northern Territory Government Fisheries officers visit. On one of the days the rangers took them on a coastal patrol. One of the tasks was to secure the net below with some star pickets. When the track to this area dries after the wet season we will winch the net up the beach and dispose of it. (If you double click on the photos you get a larger and clearer photo). Last week we were heading over the flood plain to the west side of the island to conduct an Aquatic Biosecurity Survey when we came across this dead crocodile on the road to the airport. It was a 3.1 meters female.  We were all puzzled by what or who had caused the croc's death. There was wound on the top of it's skull. Some of the rangers were convinced that it had been shot. I was not so sure.  There were a couple of other marks/cuts on its back. We reported this to the Water Police who happened to be in town. Their investigations re...

Greetings from Minjilang, Croker Island You may have heard of a movie that was recently released called, 'High Ground'. It features some big names like Jack Thompson and Simon Baker. Of greater interest to me though were some of the Indigenous actors who featured. Gutjuk was a young boy when his family were massacred. He is played by a young man related to some of the Garngi rangers. His uncle/father (in traditional kinship systems someone's father's brothers are also called father), Baywarra is played by Sean Mununggurr from Gapuwiyak and Gujtuk's grandfather is played by Witiyana Marika from Yirrkala - we know both these actors especially Sean and his family.  'High Ground' is a confronting account of the often brutal frontier in Australia. Sadly, this story was repeated countless times across Australia.  High Ground was filmed around West Arnhem Land and Kakadu National Park showing some of this area's spectacular scenery.  Below is a link to the trai...

 Hi and greetings from Croker Island, NT. As I write this blog we are passing through a period when the monsoon is a little less active. We are still receiving rain however not as much as a week or so ago. Consequently the roads and tracks have become 'challenging'. The road across the floodplain to the airport became impassable so we had to take a much longer road to the airport however this road too became boggy in places which resulted in this 'unplanned stop'.  During the wet season while we are restricted in our access to many parts of the island, it is a good time to catch up on some maintenance. Here Clayton replaces a CV joint boot on our 4WD Hilux.  A few weeks ago we had some scientists from the NT Government's Fishery Department visit to conduct a survey on oysters, in particular 'Black Lipped Oysters'. This involved taking the scientists to numerous locations around the Croker Island at low tide to collect oysters for DNA and heavy metal tests. B...