The cerulean blue waters hiding tens of thousands of oysters in Cygnet Bay are trickling up the mud flats when Terry Hunter takes a clump of spinifex and sets it alight.

Hunter, a tall, skinny man from the local Bardi people, has put the spiky grass on top of oysters clinging to rocks. We’ve already been shown how to find “natural Gatorade”, secret springs of fresh water hidden under rock ledges, and now we’re being taught how to open oyster shells.