For more than six generations, the women in Lola Greeno's family have carried on an Indigenous Tasmanian tradition of making shell necklaces.
Key points:
- Maireener shell numbers are declining dramatically across Tasmania
- The Aboriginal community worries its tradition of using the shells to make necklaces will be lost
- A new project aims to document the necklace-making technique
Now she is worried the cultural practice, which dates back hundreds of years, could be in serious jeopardy due to a sudden scarcity of maireener shells around the state.
"My prediction is — and I hope I'm wrong — in 10 years, you will hardly see any maireener shells to make necklaces out of, sadly, if it keeps going in this pattern," Ms Greeno said.
The Palawa artist said making maireener shell necklaces helped made her feel connected to her late mother.
But she is worried her grandchildren will not be able to pass the tradition on.
"It would be devastating if we lost the cultural practice of shell necklace making," she said.
"It would be really sad … if we lost it altogether."
Her grandchildren, Charlyse and Sheryden Greeno, agreed.
"It's very important because, as you can see, they're beautiful shells," Sheryden said.
"I hope I will learn more about the knowledge that has been kept within the elders and past history," Charyse said.
"It's very important for me to pass on this knowledge."
Missing shells may be linked to loss of kelp forests
Even science cannot explain the loss of the shells.
But Cayne Layton, from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), has a theory about why they are becoming scarce.
Dr Layton said the disappearance of Tasmania's giant kelp forests might be playing a role.
"[The kelp forests] represent a loss of really important habitat in eastern Tasmania, so you've undoubtedly lost something really special there," Dr Layton said.
"But whether or not that's tightly [connected] to the exact loss of these shells is really hard to understand."
The kelp forests once dominated Tasmania's east coast, but 95 per cent have been lost over the past few decades due to ocean warming, urbanisation and pollution.
Dr Layton is part of a group of scientists working to restore the state's kelp forests by identifying kelp that will tolerate warmer waters.
"Maireener shells live on kelp and they live on seagrass, so clearly restoring habitat is likely to have a benefit for these animals," he said.
Work underway to document technique
Meanwhile, Aboriginal elders are taking part in a project to preserve the necklace-making technique.
The project is headed up by Ms Greeno's son Dean Greeno, and also involves a range of organisations such as CMS, IMAS, UTAS, CSIRO and Riawunna.
They are working to document the cultural practice by interviewing and filming Aboriginal elders as they explain and show the technique.
But time is working against them. Not only are the shells getting more scarce, the elders who know the technique are also getting fewer.
"It's extremely urgent," Mr Greeno said.
"We've had several elders die in the last couple of years. Massive amounts of knowledge have gone away.
"So it's really urgent to contact the community, contact those elders and get their input, get their understanding if they're willing to before they go.
He said he hoped his efforts were enough to preserve the tradition "so at the very least if we can't save the shell, we will save the knowledge for our people".
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA4LTA5L3RyYWRpdGlvbmFsLWFib3JpZ2luYWwtc2hlbGwtbmVja2xhY2UtbWFraW5nLXVuZGVyLXRocmVhdC8xMjUzNzkwNNIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjUzNzkwNA?oc=5
2020-08-09 03:35:00Z
CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA4LTA5L3RyYWRpdGlvbmFsLWFib3JpZ2luYWwtc2hlbGwtbmVja2xhY2UtbWFraW5nLXVuZGVyLXRocmVhdC8xMjUzNzkwNNIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjUzNzkwNA
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