Standard Presentation Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting 2023

Mapping Sea Country: Plurality and knowledge of saltwater territories in Indigenous Australian contexts (#126)

Amanda J Kearney 1 , Michael O'Leary 2 3 , Spencer Platten 4
  1. School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  2. School of Earth Sciences, University of Western Australia , Perth, WA, Australia
  3. The UWA Oceans Institute , University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
  4. Northern Land Council, Darwin, NT, Australia

There are distinct bodies of knowledge attached to the sea. Here we orient the focus towards cultural framings of sea territories, as inclusive of submerged (pre-inundation) landscapes that lie out-of-sight on Australia’s continental shelves. We strive for deeper understandings of human geographies of Sea Country, by adopting a pluralist methodology which brings into relation both Indigenous perspectives and knowledges alongside western scientific  understanding of the ecology and geomorphology of Australia’s continental shelf.

For Indigenous maritime peoples submerged sea Country is mapped by ancestral activity, oral traditions and songlines. These provide extensive detail to assist in understanding submerged landscapes as part of the greater Australian landmass.

By highlighting the depth and substance of these commensurate geographies, our aim is,

  1. To engage a more expansive vision of human connections to the past and present continental landmass of Australia, and
  2. To conceptualise and co-ordinate mapping efforts to support Indigenous marine tenure aspirations.

Ensuring that understandings of sea Country are arrived at through plural knowledges requires a practice of bringing principled systems of understanding to stand together as part of an explanatory schema for a world populated by and yet differentially known by people.