APN’s Returning Generation Camp: Tha' Pemp Wuut Mangkantam Keeps Bringing Wik Children to their Turtle Country

As part of Aak Puul Ngantam (APN) Cape York’s Returning Generation Camp, Koolkan Aurukun State School students and Aurukun community members visited the APN ranger team on Aurukun Homelands to learn about their work, including turtle monitoring they’ve conducted over the past 15 years.

The APN Cape York ranger team is a member of the Western Cape Turtle Threat Abatement Alliance (WCTTAA), a partnership of six western Cape York Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger groups.

Cape York NRM’s Marine Turtle Conservation Program Lead, Dr Manuela Fischer, joined the activities, which included demonstrating turtle monitoring techniques, assessing turtle nest viability, and recording and removing marine debris. 

A presentation was also given to students and community members by APN rangers on the Cape’s marine turtles and the work carried out by APN to protect them, with contributions from Ecologistics consultant Ben Jones and Dr Fischer.

“The rangers’ knowledge of turtle monitoring methods, built up over more than a decade, is incredibly impressive. It was also amazing to see the rangers’ understanding of the historical management of the area and their ongoing use of cultural language (Wik Mungkan) on Wik Homelands,” said Dr Fischer.

The visit was a valuable opportunity to see the APN Cape York rangers in action and connect with the Aurukun community, highlighting how WCTTAA is protecting endangered marine turtles across western Cape York.

WCTTAA is supported by Cape York NRM through funding from the Australian and Queensland Governments' Nest to Ocean Turtle Protection Program.

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