Now you're young, you must learn everything about our culture.
I know now you go to the white man's schools, but our identity must survive, otherwise you will be nobody.
Now, our people live in reservations, we are no longer nomads,
but they can't take away our laws and our beliefs.
That must be the most important thing in our lives.
In 1931, Arnhem Land, in Northern Australia, was declared an aborigine reservation,
and in the 1967 constitution we aborigines were given equal rights with the white men.
Now, we live in pre-fabricated houses which are entirely foreign to our way of life.
Traditional customs are breaking down.
The young go off to study far away from their parents, and then don't want to return.
And many aborigines fall victim to alcohol.
From 1967, the lands began to be our property.
The white man promised to respect our sacred places, but of course...there's a trick.
The administration of Aborigine lands is controlled by the whites, who obtain the profits from mining.
In return, they pay us a kind of pension...and that, that's the worst thing.
It's the most efficient way of wiping out our culture.
My people don't realise, but I am old, I know that if a man does not have to work,
if he does not grow crops, or hunt or do something, he very quickly destroys himself.
Our coasts are full of animals, which traditionally provided us with food.
One thing we find particularly exquisite is turtle eggs.
When we see the tracks of a giant turtle on the beach, we follow them and discover where it has laid its eggs.
We carefully probe the ground with rods, to find out where we need to dig, and then take the eggs.
A giant tortoise can lay hundreds of eggs.
We never take them all, we always leave half of them so they will hatch, and there will be more eggs in the future.
With our harpoons we also fish turtles and manatees, pursuing them on motor boats.
When we have speared an animal, we throw a buoy into the water, with a long rope tied to harpoon.
The animal tries to escape, but the buoy stops it from swimming freely.
Very quickly it grows tired, and then we approach to capture it.
This requires patience, you mustn't try to go too fast, you have to pull in the ropes little by little so the prey does not escape.
If the animal is very heavy, like the turtles, we usually secure it with another harpoon before dragging it into the boat.
We catch turtles of up to 200 kilos, very difficult to pull out of the water.
Whenever they catch a giant turtle, the fishermen arrange a feast, right there on the beach, to which all their relatives are invited.
First, they prepare a big fire on which they put stones so they will become red hot.
These stones are what will be used to roast the turtle meat.
After cutting off its head, they begin to take out the entrails and the enormous intestine.
This work is normally done by the oldest one in the group.
With his experience, he knows by touch which parts should be removed and which left.
When the fire dies down and the stones are hot, they start cooking.
They stand the shell vertically on the ground, hold it in place with sand and start to fill it with the hot stones,
with the carefully-cleaned entrails and intestine, and with aromatic herbs.
When it is full, they place it on the embers of the fire.
The stones roast the meat from inside
with just the heat from the fire it would be impossible to roast so much meat.
Half an hour later, the banquet is ready to be carved up.
That is, of course after breaking through the powerful shell, which is not always an easy task.
Pieces are cut off and selected to be shared out.
Everyone must get the same amount of meat, if not there will be problems between the different families of the fishermen.
Normally, they choose a man who everyone trusts to share the meat our fairly, but no one will eat anything,
except the little bits of meat that have stuck to the shell, until it has all been shared out.
The juice that remains at the bottom is our turtle soup.
While the meat is still being carved.
Then, the main course, and everyone eats as much as possible.