-Traditional Aborignal hunting-

EACH DAY, AT LEAST one group of Martu hunts on traditional lands. And for the best part of a decade, two anthropologists from Stanford University in California, USA, have gone with them, documenting what, how and why they hunt. Douglas Bird and Rebecca Bliege Bird calculated that 20 to 50 per cent of the total Martu diet is still composed of bush foods. One of the most interesting aspects of their research has been studying differences in the way men and women hunt. Although traditional Martu law doesn’t dictate it, men and women generally choose different ventures.

About 60 per cent of the time, the men undertake high-risk hunting – going for animals such as the fleet-footed kirti-kirti (euro) or the flighty kipara (Australian bustard), with hunting failure rates of about 80 per cent. Women choose the “safer” option of hunting the small parnajarlpa (sand goanna) 74 per cent of the time, banking on a 90 per cent chance of obtaining some, albeit smaller, amount of food – enough to feed their own family. Rebecca says the women’s childcare role may only play a small part in activity choice. “If that were all that was going on, post-reproduction hunting would be the same for both genders,” she says. “Predictability versus unpredictability tends to characterise nearly all divisions of labour cross-culturally and I think women like the more predictable outcomes.”

Adding to the complex picture is the generous nature of Martu society. Prestige is gained not by owning more than others, but by giving away what you have – be it money, tobacco or food. Someone who is able to give away a large quantity of meat to others gains prestige, but usually will retain no more food than anyone else. A successful goanna hunter decides how to distribute her catch. However, a successful euro hunter places the carcass at the edge of camp and takes no further role in the butchering or distribution. Instead a senior man will assign the different cuts of meat to 10 or so family members of the hunter, or if they are not there, to others. So good or bad hunters will still receive about the same amount of food.

“Kangaroo hunting shows the ability to care for community – an investment in community care, and a willingness to work for the public good,” Rebecca says. “It signals, ‘I’ve just eliminated all the need for anyone else to do any work, because there is enough here to feed everyone’. But who are you sharing with when you are hunting goanna?” The comparatively small amount of meat – an average of 4-5 goannas caught per person on each hunt – is divided among an average of 2.5 people, so can be seen to be a selfish hunting option. “If you choose to go hunting for sand goanna, you’re almost guaranteed to have a meal,” Doug says. “But sometimes it’s better [politically] to come back and be just as hungry as everyone else.”