Mainstream environmental policies and their makers have long ignored the ways of the indigenous people. The same can be said about mainstream science and all it’s reductionist logic and outlook. But that is gradually changing in terms of small regional intervention. Meet Manni Edwards. He credits his journey to preserving the wisdom of his elders to an encounter with goondoi 40 years ago.At the age of 8, Edwards says, he saw up to 14 colorful goondoi, or southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius) moving together in herds, socializing and breeding across the vast wetlands of the cassowary coast in Dyirribarra Bagirbarra Country, what is today the far north of Australia’s Queensland state.
But over the years, these sights have become rare. Along with the bird’s declining numbers, traditional knowledge and the cultural significance of cassowaries have diminished among the young. Also fondly known as a “rainforest gardener” for spreading the seeds of the fruits that it eats, the southern cassowary is listed as endangered in Australia, with only 4,400 left in the wild in the wet tropics region there. (Much larger populations of the bird are found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and the species’ global conservation status is least concern.)