Perhaps change is inevitable and aspects of culture may change over time, but effective design in community development is dependant on the recognition of cultural values of the 'client' community. The six outstations or homelands in this story are small settlements composed of extended families or clans living on traditional lands. These outstations are about 120 km to the east of Maningrida. They are all situated near traditional camp sites positioned to allow exploitation of the rich resources of surrounding woodland, floodplains, monsoon forest, water holes, mangroves and tidal mud flats. Not surprisingly each outstation is on or near the intersecting edges of some, or all of the above systems.
Monsoon forests yield yams at the start of the dry season and many fruits and medicinal plants.
As water holes shrink with the advancing dry season, water lily tubers, fish and more turtle are eaten as are the seeds of the abundant pandanus tree. Mangroves and tidal flats yield a variety of shellfish, crabs and fish throughout the seasons. The wet extends from November to March with total rainfall averaging 1300 mm. In the wettest months, January February and March, average monthly rainfall is 300mm. Virtually no rain falls in the dry season between May and September, a period of intense annual drought.