© Blake Education and Crackerjack Education

1

C R A C K E R J A C K E D U C AT I O N — T E A C H I N G W I T H A U N T Y

TEACHING NOTES

Knowledge area: Weather Seasons

Te x t t y p e : w r i t t e n , i n t e r a c t i v e , o n l i n e , m u l t i m o d a l

Year

6

Torres Strait Islands Weather Seasons Wheel (Interactive)

VISUAL STIMULUS FOCUS

The Torres Strait Islands Weather Seasons Wheel interactive includes animated images, and traditional and landscape setting sounds. It explains how Torres Strait Islander people tell the weather by looking at changes in nature, such as the migration and nesting patterns of birds, wind patterns, and the movement of constellations.

PRIOR TO VIEWING

Introduce the Torres Strait Islands Weather Seasons Wheel interactive to students.

Start the interactive on the website.

To engage your students, ask them to choose the month of the year, and click on it in the interactive.

Background• Torres Strait Islanders are not mainland

Aboriginal people who inhabit the islands of Torres Strait. They are a separate people in origin, history and way of life. From the waters of the Strait, where the Coral and Arafura Seas meet in one of the most fragile and intricate waterways in the world ...1

• This reef-strewn passage known as Torres Strait, between Cape York at the northeast tip of mainland Australia and the southwest coast of Papua New Guinea, is only a little over 150 kilometres wide but contains over 100 islands, islets, coral reefs and cays.2

• The people throughout the Torres Strait are united by their connection to the [stars of] the

Tagai [(Tag-eye)]. The Tagai consists of stories which are the cornerstone of Torres Strait Islanders’ spiritual beliefs. These stories focus on the [origins of these] stars and identify Torres Strait Islanders as sea people who share a common way of life.3

• The movements of Tagai across the sky instruct the world order, predicting new seasons and ensuring everything has a place.4

• Torres Strait Islander traditional stories are commonly called legends instead of creation or Dreaming stories. Language was used to identify Island groups, totems, kinships, oral traditions, creation stories, ceremonies and seasons.

© Blake Education and Crackerjack Education

2

C R A C K E R J A C K E D U C AT I O N — T E A C H I N G W I T H A U N T Y

SHARED VIEWING

The Torres Strait Island Weather Seasons Wheel is an interactive weather wheel exploring the weather seasons observed by Torres Strait Islander people who live to the north of Queensland on 17 different islands. Click on the different months on the weather wheel to bring up information related to that season.

Reading landscapes, seasons and environments has long been a tradition for Torres Strait Islanders through their close relationships with their islands and seas … The information varies from details on the migration and nesting patterns of key totem birds, to the movement of the Tagai star constellation, to the onset of wind patterns indicating certain planting or fishing cycles.5

Understanding the position of Torres Strait Islanders as people of the sea is crucial to understanding Islander values, culture, law and society.6

Torres Strait Islander people use indicators in the environment to determine the best time to harvest their food sources.7

The knowledge areas of weather seasons of Torres Strait Islanders include:• Wet and dry seasons, including ‘the doldrums’ [no wind time];• Wind patterns;• Bird nesting and migrations patterns;• Planting and cropping times;• Other plant life;• Sea life and fishing movements; and• Tagai star constellation movements.8

Januar

yN

.E. se

ason

Nai

ger/

Kok

i Ker

ker

N.E

. season

Naiger/K

oki Kerker

Decem

ber

Febr

uary

N.W. m

onso

on

Koki K

erke

r

MarchN.W. monsoon

Koki Kerker

AprilN.W. monsoonSager/Koki Kerker

May

S.E. season

Sager Kerker

June

S.E

. season

Sager K

erker

S.E

. se

ason

Sag

er K

erke

rJu

ly

S.E.

sea

son

Sage

r Ker

ker/Zo

gob

Augu

st

S.E. season

Sager Kerker

September

N.E. seasonSager/Naiger KerkerOctober

N.E. season

Naiger Kerker/Kipa Gob

November

© Blake Education and Crackerjack Education

3

C R A C K E R J A C K E D U C AT I O N — T E A C H I N G W I T H A U N T Y

Information in this table is derived from McNamara, K., Sibtain, J. and Parnell, K. 9 and Johnson, Dianne 10

December to Early March North West Season – (Koki Kerker)

Signs — There is total stillness and rainbow-like sunsets.

Characteristics — There is maximum plant growth during heavy rains. Night is time for low tides, followed by a change to flood tide in early mornings.

Activities — Rainwater is collected in the valves of giant clam shells at the base of trees. People from other islands arrive to trade goods like fish, turtle and dugong. Sweet potato and the seeds of yams are planted.

Foods — Vegetable foods are scarce (only bananas and green coconuts). Fishing is very good — trevally, yellow tail, long tom, black bream, gar fish, black fish. Frigate birds and terns are hunted by snares.

March North West Season – (Ziel Kerker)

Signs — Winds turn around to the south.

Characteristics — The weather starts to become cooler.

Activities — It is early vegetable harvest time. Preparations are made for the South East season. Wind magic is practised.

Foods — Early vegetables may include banana, sweet potato and sugar cane. Fish are plentiful and sardines are harvested with a conical basket made from bamboo.

Early April to Mid-October South East Season – (Sager Kerker)

Signs — Rainbow fish appear; the kingfisher returns to the area and the planet Venus is the sign of the height of the harvest.

Characteristics — Trade winds from the South East make for cooler evenings and the people look to the Wongai tree to tell if there will be a good turtle harvest in the North East season.

Activities — The harvest of vegetable food begins. The three staple foods are yams, coconuts and bananas. Local rites and ceremonies with other clan groups begin. House building preparation commences — house grass is collected to use as thatch (which would last up to five years). Tools and weapons are renewed and repaired.

Foods — Early vegetables may include banana, sweet potato and sugar cane. Fish are plentiful and sardines are harvested with a conical basket made from bamboo.

Mid-October to Early December North East Season – (Naiger Kerker) (1st half of later season)

Signs — Usiam (Pleiades) rises in the East. Usiam is part of the star constellation of Tagai, which included the Southern Cross. The first rains come. The wind begins to turn around to the West. Lightning and thunderstorms announce the arrival of the North West season (Koki Kerker).

Characteristics — The weather is very hot. Wild yams are sprouting new shoots. Mango and almonds are fruiting, and turtles are laying their eggs on the beaches.

Activities — Garden preparation is completed, followed by planting time. Planting of yam tubers and banana suckers happens now. Stone fish traps are made ready for the North West season. Fish hooks are made from turtle shell. Rain-making magic is practised at some villages. Meriam people move to round houses on their families’ lands along the sand beaches for protection against rainy time.

Foods — The turtle harvest begins. Turtle eggs are collected and the fish become plentiful. Wild yams, mangoes and almonds are ready to pick. The juice of the green coconut is good to drink.

TORRES STRAIT ISLANDS WEATHER SEASONS WHEEL

© Blake Education and Crackerjack Education

4

C R A C K E R J A C K E D U C AT I O N — T E A C H I N G W I T H A U N T Y

Have the students explore alternative calendars that use ecological events to mark the seasons.

• Access resources about calendars from other Indigenous groups or cultures or through time, such as the Indigenous Weather Knowledge website by the Bureau of Metereology (see the Additional Resources section).

• Investigate how other cultures (including other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups) and people in the past have used calendars.

Make a Seasonal Calendar for Your School (use Worksheet 1) STEP 1

Use Worksheet 1 (Seasonal Calendar) as a template to create a seasonal calendar (supply A4 size copies for individual students and a large poster size for a class).

STEP 2

Start by including key events traditionally found on calendars, such as school holidays, term week numbers, sports carnivals, etc.

STEP 3

Add plant, animal and weather activities as they occur throughout the year, such as:

• the first calls of migratory birds

• frogs or cicadas calling

• goannas out and about

• trees flowering

• lorikeets feeding

• cyclone season

• cicadas emerging

• seeds dropping from trees.

The calendar could be added to over the year as events are noticed.

Exploring Alternative Calendars

ACTIVITY 1

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

Koki Kerker Ko-key Cur-cur

Ziel Kerker Zeal Cur-cur

Sager Kerker Sarg-ger Cur-cur

Naiger Kerker Nayg-ger Cur-cur

© Blake Education and Crackerjack Education

5

C R A C K E R J A C K E D U C AT I O N — T E A C H I N G W I T H A U N T Y

• Ask the students how they think Torres Strait Islander people survived living on islands away from Australia’s mainland. (Answer: Fishing, growing vegetables, hunting birds, travelling by canoe)

• Explain to the students that Torres Strait Islander people used winds, native animals and plants to know what weather was coming. Discuss how for thousands of years Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people did not have TV, paper and pens, radio or computers, and they had to rely on what was familiar and

available to them to find out this information. Have the students imagine what life would be like if they lived on a deserted island and had no TV, computer, books or radio. How would they tell the weather to survive?

• Ask the students how they think Torres Strait Islander people navigated when they were out at sea fishing and hunting. (Answer: There were no compasses or maps, so they navigated by the stars. Their knowledge of where the different star systems and planets sat at various times of night and day was incredible.)

AFTER VIEWING DISCUSSION

• Watch the video Retold – The Story of Biw, told by Harriet Ober with the students (see the

Additional Resources section). This story is about the weather seasons in the Torres Strait.

• Discuss with the students the importance of storytelling to the people of the Torres Strait Islands. Explain that many stories are related to the Tagai constellation of stars. Tagai was a great fisherman and sea hero. One story tells that after Tagai’s fishing crew of twelve men (Zugubals) drank all the water from his canoe, he killed them and placed them in the sky in two groups — six men as the Pleiades star cluster and the other six as the Orion constellation. Tagai’s left hand is the Southern Cross holding a spear, and the stars of Scorpius form the canoe he stands on.

• Provide each of the students with a copy of Worksheet 2 (Star Stories). Have them draw and name their own constellation then write a story about it.

Star Stories

ACTIVITY 2

Worksheet 1: Seasonal CalendarAn activity where students use the seasonal calendar template to include key events (school holidays, term weeks) and add plants, animals and weather events that occur during the year.

SUPPORTING WORKSHEETS

Worksheet 2: Star Stories A drawing and writing activity where students draw their own constellation and write a story about it.

© Blake Education and Crackerjack Education

6

C R A C K E R J A C K E D U C AT I O N — T E A C H I N G W I T H A U N T Y

CURRICULUM

GEOGRAPHY

Content description Elaboration

The world’s cultural diversity, including that of its indigenous peoples (ACHASSK140)

• investigating sustainability of the environments in which many indigenous peoples have lived sustainably over time

SCIENCE

Content description Elaboration

The growth and survival of living things are affected by physical conditions of their environment (ACSSU094)

• considering the effects of physical conditions causing migration and hibernation

ENGLISH

Content description Elaboration

Make connections between students’ own experiences and those of characters and events represented in texts drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts (ACELT1613)

• recognising the influence our different historical, social and cultural experiences may have on the meaning we make from the text and the attitudes we may develop towards characters, actions and events

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Bureau of Meteorology: Indigenous Weather Knowledge http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/

A shark in the stars: Astronomy and culture in the Torres Strait http://theconversation.com/a-shark-in-the-stars-astronomy-and-culture-in-the-torres-strait-15850

The Story of Biw, told by Harriet Ober (Video) http://www.crackerjackeducation.com.au/resources/the-story-of-biw/

Stories Under Tagai: Traditional Stories from the Torres Strait (Video) http://www.crackerjackeducation.com.au/resources/stories-under-tagai-traditional-stories-from-the-torres-strait

© Blake Education and Crackerjack Education

7

C R A C K E R J A C K E D U C AT I O N — T E A C H I N G W I T H A U N T Y

REFERENCES

1. Multicultural Australia. Torres Strait Islanders. PDF. Accessed May 22, 2017. http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au/doc/shnukal_torres_strait.pdf

2. Lawrence, David and Helen Reeves Lawrence. Torres Strait: the region and its people. PDF. Accessed June 14, 2017. http://lryb.aiatsis.gov.au/PDFs/davis_pt1.pdf

3. Australian Museum. “Spirituality.” Accessed May 22, 2017. https://australianmuseum.net.au/indigenous-australia-spirituality

4. Tagai State College. Accessed May 22, 2017. https://tagaisc.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspx

5. McNamara, K., Sibtain, J. and Parnell, K. (2010) Documenting and Sharing the Seasonal Calendar for Erub Island, Torres Strait. Final Project Report to the Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility. Published online by the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns (20 pp.).

6. Lawrence, David and Helen Reeves Lawrence. Torres Strait: the region and its people. PDF. Accessed June 14, 2017. http://lryb.aiatsis.gov.au/PDFs/davis_pt1.pdf

7. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. “Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef: From the Sea”. Accessed May 22, 2017. http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/our-partners/traditional-owners/traditional-owners-of-the-great-barrier-reef/food-from-the-sea

8. McNamara, K., Sibtain, J. and Parnell, K. (2010) Documenting and Sharing the Seasonal Calendar for Erub Island, Torres Strait. Final Project Report to the Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility. Published online by the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns (20 pp.).

9. Ibid.

10. Johnson, Dianne. Night Skies of Aboriginal Australia: A Noctuary. Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2014.

KNOWLEDGE AREAS AND THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM

Geography

Torres Strait Islander people have close relationships with their islands and seas. By reading the indicators in the landscape, seasons and the environment, they can determine the best time to plant and harvest their food sources. (ACHASSK140)

Science

Torres Strait Islander people tell the weather by looking at changes in nature, such as the migration and nesting patterns of birds, wind patterns, and the movement of constellations. (ACSSU094)

English

Torres Strait Islander traditional stories are commonly called legends instead of creation or Dreaming stories. Storytelling is an important part of the culture of the Torres Strait Islands. Many of their stories are related to the Tagai constellation of stars and their way of life as people of the sea. (ACELT1613)