Gariwerd calendar

Learn about the traditional seasonal calendar of the Gariwerd / Grampians region in Victoria

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There are 6 distinct weather periods recognised in the Brambuk seasonal cycle of the Gariwerd region. These are genuine seasons that relate to climatic features as well as referencing environmental events, such as plant flowering and fruiting, and animal behaviour patterns.

The language groups Djapwurrong and Jardwadjali are used by the custodians for the Gariwerd / Grampians region.

Reading the country

Gariwerd / Grampians National Park is a unique place. There are many ways of understanding this ancient landscape.

Understanding the land through seasonal observations was once essential to survival and is today essential to management.

The Grampians National Park is home to many rare and endangered species of plants and animals. It's recognised as the single most important botanical reserve in Victoria.

Water, one of the most precious and scarce resources in Australia, is abundant in the Gariwerd / Grampians area.

Protecting and conserving habitat is the main way to help preserve plants and animals, including endangered species.

Gariwerd seasons

These are the seasons of the Gariwerd region.

Kooyang – season of eels

Late summer: late January to late March

  • Hottest and driest time
  • Scarce surface water
  • High bushfire risk
  • Night sky is bright with stars

Kooyang is depicted by eels, galaxia (small native trout), baby animals, mistletoe as well as eeling and fishing.

Lifestyle of the Gariwerd communities during Kooyang

Eel trapping is common during this season. Eel is a favourite food of the Gariwerd people. Stone huts could be seen on Salt Creek for the eel harvest.

Herbal medicines are available:

  • old-man weed for cold and chest complaints
  • tannins from gums and wattles for stomach complaints and burns.

The stars were used for navigation, with star formations having creation stories.

Red Australian mistletoe flowers and green leaves.

Australian Mistletoe attracts butterflies during Kooyang

The woodland areas during Kooyang

Amphibians

Tree frogs can be heard squeaking.

Insects

Many insects can be seen in larval form or beginning to hatch:

  • Labyrinth Butterflies hatch
  • Longhorn Beetles emerge from wattle trunks
  • Emperor Gum Moths emerge
  • spitfire grubs of sawfly wasp eat new leaves on seedling gums
  • stick insects eat treetop leaves
  • Featherhorn Beetles emerge.

Butterflies are frequent:

  • Imperial White Butterflies can be seen
  • Symmons Skipper Butterflies are common
  • Brown-tailed Moth Butterfly found on mistletoe.

Flies are pesky during Kooyang. Robber flies often cruise along bush tracks.

Mammals

Mammals emerge during Kooyang, including boxing kangaroos.

Reptiles

Snakes are seen basking in the sun.

Birds

Red Wattlebirds flock and Fantails scurry down bush gullies.

Young birds emerge during this season.

Plants

Some plants continue to flower, including mistletoes, messmates and the long-leafed box.

The flowers of River Red Gums attract honeyeaters.

The wetland areas during Kooyang

Insects

Water Boatmen migrate from drying ponds.

Many aquatic insects emerge as adults, attracting swallows and martins.

Fish

Galaxias move downstream to estuaries to spawn.

Kooyang is the peak time for eel.

Birds

Second brood of swamp hens are running.

Plants

Ribbon Weed and Swamp Lily flowering.

Elodea Waterweed stems break and migrate.

Gwangal Moronn – season of honey bees

Autumn: late March to end of May

  • Warm still days
  • Country starts to cool
  • Cooler mornings
  • Red sunrises and golden evenings

Gwangal Moronn season is depicted by insects, pink heath and being at home in the wuurn.

Lifestyle of the Gariwerd communities during Gwangal Moronn

People gather in villages. People in the south lived on raised platforms to escape waterlogging.

Layered cooking ovens are used at this time and are passed over generations.

Distinct roles and tasks included foraging and gathering by females and hunting by males.

Two mushrooms with red hoods and white spots in the bush.

Gwangal Moronn is peak season for red and white Fly Agaric Fungi in woodland areas

The woodland areas during Gwangal Moronn

Plants and fungi

Gwangal Moronn sees berries ripening.

Plants flowering including:

  • Cranberry Heath and Hop Goodenia in full flower
  • Pink Heath and Flame Grevillea
  • Candlebark and Manna Gums.

Many orchid shoots showing:

  • first rosettes of Greenhood Orchids
  • Parsons Bands Orchids are flowering.

Peak of fungi season:

  • red and white Fly Agaric Fungi.
Insects

Wattle Goat Moths can be seen, and Giant Swift Moths are laying eggs at the base of gums.

Mammals

Marsupials active:

  • young bandicoots out of pouch
  • antechinus active
  • dingoes mating
  • possums are beginning to breed.
Birds

Pre-northern migration flocking begins:

  • Red Wattlebirds flocking
  • first Flame Robin juveniles and females come down from the hills
  • flocks of insectivorous birds pass down gullies
  • Pied Currawongs come down from mountains.

Many birds are moulting feathers during this season.

Honeyeaters and wrens are searching for moths and insects.

The wetland areas during Gwangal moronn

Plants

River Red Gum flowers continue to attract honeyeaters.

Birds

Masked Lapwings and Grey Fantails are flocking.

Reptiles and amphibians

Skinks and tortoises hibernate.

Many tadpoles can be seen in ponds.

Fish

Mature eels head out to sea to breed.

Insects

Hawk Moths are common.

Aquatic insects emerge as adults, attracting swallows and martins.

Chunnup – season of cockatoos

Winter: late May to end of July

  • Freezing winds
  • Coldest time of year
  • Bleak mists
  • Rain

Chunnup is depicted by cockatoos and fungi as well as clothes and totems.

Lifestyle of the Gariwerd communities during Chunnup

Bands moved to rock shelters in the hills for refuge.

Long cloaks were made from possum skins.

Old people and pregnant women rubbed emu fat into the skin for protection from the cold.

For ornamentation, people wore kangaroo teeth necklaces, hat mats and nose piercings.

Green orchids on black background.

Winter orchids, like the Tall Greenhood, are flowering in woodland areas during Chunnup

The woodland areas during Chunnup

Plants and fungi

Fungi appear including:

  • Coral Fungus on mossy ground
  • Boletus Fungi in wet litter.

First of the winter orchids flower, including:

  • Tall Greenhood and early Nancy Lily
  • first of the Nodding Greenhoods and Helmet Orchids
  • first Chocolate Lilies.

Many early wattles flowering:

  • Long-leafed Wattle
  • Golden Wattle and Prickly Moses
  • Cranberry heath.

Fire-damaged trees show epicormics shoots, such as Yellow box.

Mammal

Possums have young in pouch during Chunnup.

Sugar gliders give birth.

Echidnas are searching for mates.

Birds

Several bird species are nesting, including:

  • Brown Thornbill building first nests
  • Scrub Wrens
  • Jacky Winter Flycatcher returning to nesting sites
  • dive-bombing Magpies and Lapwings.

Many birds active and on the move:

  • Shrike Tits tear bark off manna gums
  • Fantailed Cuckoos make first calls
  • Sittellas flocks pass through
  • Yellow-tailed Cockatoos seek new feeding grounds
  • honeyeaters are attracted to newly flowering eucalypts
  • noisy Minahs call loudly at dawn
  • Satin Bowerbirds on the move
  • little ravens flocking
  • Powerful Owls laying eggs.

The wetland areas during Chunnup

Birds

Large flocks of Pink-eared Ducks seen on lakes.

Swans and coot graze on lake shores.

Rising waters cause ducks to seek new feeding and nesting areas.

Lapwings are nesting on eggs.

Reptiles and amphibians

Frogs actively calling during Chunnup.

Insects

Ponds full of little water creatures.

Larneuk – season of nesting birds

Pre-spring: late July to August

  • Dramatic weather changes
  • Wettest time of year
  • Rivers run high

Larneuk is depicted by owls and eagles, tubers (orchids and murrnong) providing underground larders, and cultivation.

Lifestyle of the Gariwerd communities during Larneuk

Murnong and other tuberous roots were dug up by women using long, pointed sticks, collected in large baskets and cooked in underground ovens.

Baskets were frequently being made during Larneuk.

The woodland areas during Larneuk

Plants and fungi

New growth can be seen on eucalyptus trees.

Many ground orchids are in full flower, including Greenhood, Donkey and Spider Orchids.

Many plants in flower:

  • Pultanaea Bush Peas
  • Manna Gums and Long-leafed Box
  • Purple Coral Pea, Stackhousia and wattles
  • Grass Tree spikes.

Tree ferns unfold new fronds and cup fungi grow under large eucalypts.

Birds

Many small birds are nesting, including lapwings.

Early nesters can now be seen feeding young.

Spotted Pardalote build nesting tunnels for first brood.

Cuckoos return and call continuously.

Fledgling Powerful Owls and Wedge-tailed Eagles emerge.

Insects

First butterflies appear and imperial white butterflies take wing.

Caterpillars and grubs emerge with sawfly grubs common on young eucalypts.

Woolly Bear Caterpillars are common.

King crickets lay eggs in banksias.

The wetland areas during Larneuk

Birds

Some migratory birds return:

  • Sandpipers and Stints arrive on mud flats
  • Reed Warblers return from north.

Early ducklings walk to water.

Insects

Mosquito wrigglers are abundant.

Fish

Rivers run high and galaxias migrate from the sea.

Petyan – season of wildflowers

Spring: September to November

  • Tempestuous weather
  • Warmer days
  • Bush bursts into life
  • Emu constellation appears

The spring season is depicted by bird eggs, wildflowers and great meetings.

Lifestyle of the Gariwerd communities during Petyan

There were great meetings of Aboriginal bands of up to 1,000 people for settling legal conflicts, singing and dancing corroborees, wrestling and boomerang-throwing competitions, football games, trade, seeking partners for marriage.

Clans were summoned by smoke signals or message sticks.

The woodland areas during Petyan

Plants

Many orchids and lily are in flower, including:

  • Leopard, Hare, Pink Fingers, Flying Duck, Leek and Sun Orchids
  • leaves of common Bird Orchid appear
  • nodding Blue Lilies.

Trees are in flower including Silver Banksia, Yellow Box and Late Black and Silver Wattles.

Many shrubs/grasses are in flower including Parrot Peas, Mint Bush, Bauera, Tetratheca, Rice Flowers and Christmas Mint Bush.

Many herbs and grasses flower, including:

  • Yam Daisy
  • Lomandra Mat Rush has fresh spiky flowering heads.

Fringe Lilies, Tall Sundews, Grass Trigger plants, Grass Trees and Kangaroo Grass flowering.

Cherry Ballart is fruiting.

Insects

More butterflies emerge:

  • Wanderer and Common Brown Butterflies are plentiful
  • Caper White and Wood White Butterflies emerge.

Insects are active, including:

  • bees swarming
  • Hover Flies visit guinea flowers
  • cicadas emerge, leaving pupa case on tree trunks
  • first termites take wing
  • red Ichneumon Wasps common
  • large number of insects visit the bush pea and lily flowers
  • moths and beetles collect around lights.

Caterpillars create leaf damage on eucalypts and sawfly grubs are now large.

Mammals

Many mammals are breeding during Petyan.

Ring-tailed Possums carry young.

Koala young leave pouch at approximately 7 months old.

Koalas mate again.

Lots of mammal activity with holes appearing everywhere as bandicoots dig for grubs and echidnas dig for ants.

Birds

The bush rings with sounds of courting birds, frogs and insects.

Many birds are moulting.

Olive-backed Orioles are calling.

Cuckoo shrikes are feeding on caterpillars.

Many birds are breeding and nesting, including:

  • Grey Butcher Birds
  • Superb Fairywrens
  • Currawongs
  • Wood Swallows nesting after migrating south.

Many birds returning south:

  • Fly Catchers arrive from the north
  • Trillers move south
  • Rufous Fantails and Rainbow Bee-eaters arrive from the north

Migratory birds return.

Reptiles

Snakes and skinks are active:

  • skinks and snakes basking in the sun
  • lizards becoming active among the rocks.

The wetland areas during Petyan

Plants

Swamp Paperbarks are in flower.

Mammals

Platypus lays eggs.

Birds

Snipe return to long grass around swamps.

Swamphens have running young.

Reed Warblers return.

Reptiles and amphibians

Frogs are active:

  • loud frog chorus
  • Pobblebonk and Growling Grass Frogs are on the move.
Fish

Eels migrate downstream.

Ballambar – season of butterflies

Early summer: mid-November to late January

  • Summer heat starts
  • Hot, dry days
  • Stable weather

Lifestyle of the Gariwerd communities during Ballambar

Bands moved back to the plains taking minimal possessions, for example weapons, digging sticks, baskets and cloaks. Stone tools were left behind.

Sweet drinks made from banksias and Manna Gums, with Water Ribbon, cooked and eaten.

The woodland areas during Ballambar

Plants

Many plants still in flower:

  • Tea Trees, Shaggy Peas, Hop Goodenia and Guinea Flowers in bloom
  • banksia, Grass Trees, Blue Dampiera and Christmas Mint Bush
  • Sweet Bursaria at flowering peak
  • Hyacinth, Tongue and Duck orchids
  • Murnong is flowering in heathlands.

Some plants in fruit/seeding:

  • Kangaroo Grass seeding
  • Beard Heath has berries
  • Seed Pods of Silver Wattle open.
Reptiles

Snakes and lizards bask in sun, including Copperhead Snakes and Jacky Lizards.

Insects
  • Beetles and moths collect around lights at night.
  • Butterflies chase each other in the warm sun.
  • Lacewings hatch.
  • King Crickets are in old banksia logs.
Birds

Birds active include:

  • Orioles and White-throated Warblers calling
  • Squabbling Honeyeaters clamber over the flowering banksias
  • kites prey on mice and locusts.

Many birds still have young including:

  • Bee-eater chicks hatch in nesting tunnels
  • Kookaburras and Sacred Kingfishers feeding young
  • Bee-eaters feed on young dragonflies
  • Pardalote and Yellow Robin nestlings leave nests.

Many birds have post-nesting moulting.

Mammals

Pygmy Possums have young.

Echidnas seeking ant nests.

The wetland areas during Ballambar

Plants

Water Ribbons in creeks develop flowering spikes.

Nardoo are growing vigorously.

Cumbungi grows in streams and wetlands.

Birds

Grebes build floating grass nests on lakes for second brood.

Reptiles and amphibians

Water Dragons sit on riverside rocks.

Tadpoles can be seen in ponds.

Insects

Dragonflies and water striders are mating.

Daphnia Water Fleas develop large egg masses.

Whirligig Beetle larvae pupate in muddy cocoons.

Swarms of midges can be seen above ponds.

Permission

Permission to host the Gariwerd seasonal calendar and related information is given by the Elders/Directors of Gariwerd, which include the Gunditjmara, Winda Mara (Kerrup Jamara), Goolum Goolum, Kirrae Whurrong and Framlingham peoples.

Copyright

See Indigenous weather knowledge copyright information for restrictions on the use of information on this page.