meaningful employment, family, and education
are what will keep them here. He’s confident that
by returning to country, they can restore what’s
been lost. In Bininj hands, he believes, native ani-
mals will come back, dry creeks will refill, the
seasons will resume their usual patterns. Perhaps
even the mighty anbinik will flourish once again.
“If we respect our Mother Nature, she will
listen to us, and it will come back to normal. We
believe that,” Guymala says. “More talking to
the nature, more singing to the nature. That is
what will help.” jBut these days, it’s out of time,” he explains. “It’s
meant to be green-plum season right now, but
it’s out of time. It’s affecting everything—our
lifestyle, our food season, our water.”
Guymala shoos a fly orbiting lazily around him
and looks out at the bush. “It’s from people, not
nature,” he says. “Nature is beautiful, innocent.”
Climate studies project that by 2050 Australia’s
north can expect an average annual tempera-
ture increase of up to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit,
a substantial rise in the number of days over
95 degrees, and longer fire seasons, with 40 per-
cent more days of very high fire danger.
Despite these grim predictions, Guymala is
hopeful. History and spiritual connection have
brought many Aboriginal people back, but
Kylie Stevenson is the Darwin–based co-author
of a book about Larrimah, a dying town in the out-
back. Matthew Abbott is a photographer based
in Sydney who lived for two years in Arnhem Land.FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE 95