Cairns Aboriginal traditional owner hits back at crocodile cull calls

An Indigenous leader says people must co-exist with crocodiles, admitting their populations are increasing but slamming a proposed cull across Queensland.

Conflicting Indigenous views over the management of crocodiles must come to an end as one traditional owner explains why his beliefs have more standing than other Aboriginal groups.

An Indigenous leader says people must co-exist with crocodiles, admitting their populations are increasing but slamming a proposed cull across Queensland.

Cairns based Gunggandji custodian Warren Martens says he strongly opposed Carpentaria Aboriginal leader Murrandoo Yanner’s calls to pilot a crocodile culling program in the state’s north west, declaring “(Mr) Yanner doesn’t speak for us all”.

“You’ve got Aboriginal people that don’t have crocs in their culture, whereas we do as a totem, and we don’t support the culling of them,” Mr Martens said.

“There’s also different groups of Aboriginal people that are talking about the croc space is (and management).

Gunggandi traditional owner and North Queensland Land Council director Warren Martens. Picture: Elodie Jakes

“It’s the totem people that get the final say over the cultural aspects of it.”

But given crocodiles have long been part of the Carpentaria landscape where Mr Yanner was proposing the cull, Mr Martens said he would have to disagree with the outspoken north west leader’s own cultural views while explaining the merits of his approach.

“As Aboriginal people we don’t own them (crocodiles), they own us. The concept is they travel from region to region.

“We share these animals, so one group can’t be wanting to kill them and others don’t.

“So the Yanners – their view is a small modern day view and it’s a view that doesn’t really fit with other Aboriginal people.

Murrandoo Yanner invited the state government to trial a crocodile culling program in the Carpentaria region. PICTURE: STEWART McLEAN

“We’ve all got to come together as a united front and we’ve to co-exist with them.”

He said he was calling on the Queensland government to host a statewide forum of Indigenous groups, so they could form a collective voice on crocodile management.

But he wouldn’t be drawn on the potential conflicts between the different groups and their own individual views.

“It’ll be good to start to bring Aboriginal voices across the footprint so we can start to look at how we’re going to manage these animals from a totem point of view,” he said.

Department of Environment, Science and Innovation Wildlife Officers remove a saltwater crocodile. Cairns traditional owners want greater involvement in the department’s management. Picture: Cameron Bates

“When these crocs get cited and they’re potentially caught, we don’t get told when the department is going out to get them and capture them and where they end up.”

Mr Martens said while he accepted crocodiles were being reported in “areas we’ve never seen them before” he opposed population control measures.

“Why do we need to remove them when they’re just going about doing their own business in their own habitat?” he said.

“We don’t even take eggs. Takings eggs is like taking our kids.

“But my view is not representative of all views.

“We’ve all got to come together as a united front and we’ve to co-exist with them.”

Originally published as Cairns Aboriginal traditional owner hits back at crocodile cull calls