Indigenous Songlines and Science: A New Perspective on Whale Conservation

As an Indigenous-led whale-watching tour left the coast of Shellharbour on the New South Wales South Coast last month, tour guide Jodi Edwards did something she has been doing for years — she started singing to whales in language.

Moments later, a humpback whale breached.

"Whether it was coincidence or simply perfect timing, it created a connection that everyone on the boat seemed to feel," tour participant Kim Kirchberg-Sawicki said.

Dr Edwards is an Indigenous research fellow with the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security.

She said by bringing non-Indigenous people on board the whale-watching cruise, people learnt how modern whale behaviour was shaped by the landscape of the Illawarra coast 60,000 years ago.

"The shore level was about 17 kilometres further out to sea, and the people at the time realised the water was rising and their food was being cut off, so they came on shore closer to where the shoreline meets the water now.

US scientist attends tour

Kim Kirchberg-Sawicki is the founder of Sustainable Seas Technology, a not-for-profit organisation that helps commercial fishers reduce accidental whale entanglement.

The scientist from Connecticut in the United States has spent much of her career analysing data and whale behaviour, but attended Ms Edwards's whale watching tour to hear a fresh perspective.

"Indigenous communities have observed these waters and these animals for countless generations," she said.

"I was genuinely curious to learn from that perspective, and I was surprised at how naturally the cultural stories and scientific observations complemented one another.

"They're different ways of understanding the same environment, and I came away with a deeper appreciation of how knowledge can be passed down through generations by careful observations."

Conservation is strongest with unity

Ms Kirchberg-Sawicki said every country could benefit from listening to Indigenous people and asking questions about conservation.

"One thing I've learnt through my work is that conservation is strongest when it brings people together rather than separating them," she said.

"I've worked with commercial fishers, scientists, government agencies and coastal communities around the world, and each group sees something different. Indigenous knowledge is another important part of that picture."

Dr Edwards was the recipient of a $300,000 federal government grant in 2024 to explore how Indigenous songlines have protected whales and dolphins over hundreds of years.

She draws on knowledge as part of her project Unbroken Whispers, which has been looking into First Nations knowledge of the southern right whale, humpbacks, orcas and dolphins.

"We're not saying our cultural science is better and we're not saying that Western science is better.

"We're saying they follow the same patterns. Indigenous science is based on long-term observations, so that macro evolution and those observations have then been placed in stories."