Indigenous Dugong Culture

Research, in particular excavation analysis on middens on St Helena Island in Moreton Bay, have shown indigenous people had utilised Dugong for over 50 generations, primarily as a food source, but the bones were used to re-enforce canoes and the rib bones used as clapping sticks for music. The midden on St Helena Island showed that indigenous people had utilised the island for over 2700 years and up until 1856 Dugongs were still in considerable numbers around St Helena Island but rapidly decreased after this, due to the hunting of this species by Europeans for its oil. Renewal of Aboriginal culture and their knowledge of the Dugong will be a valuable learning tool for us all.