Old ways reap rewards: Elcho Island women return to traditional foods, look to start health retreat

Updated

A group of Indigenous women on a remote island off Australia's northern coastline are working to start their own health retreat, after overcoming chronic disease by returning to the land and the ocean.

A slimy, live brown worm may not whet the appetite of everyone, but for Helen Guyupul it is a treat.

She said the mangrove worms, that live in the rotten wood of mangrove trees that skirt Elcho Island, off Australia's north coast, are also incredibly healthy.

She is one of a group of 12 women who have embarked on a journey to better health, returning to traditional foods, like shellfish and other foods found around the island.

The group has been such a success, they plan to open a healing retreat to help the rest of their community to regain their health.

A search is underway for the best locations on the most remote parts of the island, and the women are looking for funds to help get the retreat up and running.

For several decades now, processed junk food has crept into the diets of the Yolngu people on Elcho Island, which is about 520 kilometres from Darwin.

It is a common problem, as fresh food is often too expensive because groceries are brought in by sea barge once a week from Darwin.

"Before, our own people were fit and healthy," said Dorothy Yungirrga, one of the women in the group.

"The main [problem] at the clinic is all chronic, I can say that. I work there."

After overhauling their diets and making lifestyle changes, they are reaping the rewards.

Smoking rates in Aboriginal communities are high. Six of the 12 women were smokers, but since joining the hunting group, four have managed to quit.

In the year since they began, eight of the women have been told by their doctors they can stop taking prescription medicines for chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.

It is a family affair, with three generations joining the party as they head off from the small community of Galiwinku.

In their haul are crabs and other crustaceans, which the women are adamant "taste like blue cheese".

Helen Rrikawuku has also joined the hunting expeditions.

"My poor health made me come to this group, because I'm facing a lot of health problems: boils, high blood sugar levels, sometimes high blood pressure," she said.

"I want to make myself strong so I can live longer for my grandchildren."

Topics: indigenous-culture, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, diseases-and-disorders, food-and-cooking, galiwinku-0822

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