Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930:reg:2:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2 (pt 1/48)
Character Range: 65044–67926

2   Biological, cultural, and ecological information

2.1         Taxonomy
The southern right whale is one of three extant species of right whales belonging to the genus Eubalaena, along with the North Atlantic (E. glacialis) and North Pacific (E. japonica) right whale. Along with the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), they comprise the Family Balaenidae in the suborder Mysticeti (baleen whale) of the Order Cetartiodactyla, which is made up of the two orders Artiodactyla (even toed ungulates) and Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises) (Jefferson et al. 2015, Kenney 2018). Although there is little morphological differences between right whale species, the southern right whale is widely accepted based on genetic analyses as a separate Southern Hemisphere species, distinct from the northern hemisphere right whale species (Rosenbaum et al. 2000). The taxonomy of right whales is recognised by the IWC, the Convention on Migratory Species, the IUCN (Kenney 2018) and the Society for Marine Mammalogy (Taxonomy 2022).

2.2         Cultural and community significance

    2.2.1     Cultural significance of whales to Australian First Nations people
The cultural, customary, and spiritual significance of species and the ecological communities they form, are diverse and varied for Australia's First Nations Peoples and their stewardship of Country. This section describes some examples of this significance, although it is not intended to be comprehensive, applicable to, or speak for, all Australian First Nations peoples. It is acknowledged that First Nations people who are the custodians of this knowledge have the rights to decide how it is shared and used.
Australia's First Nations people have a culture that relates to a connectedness of land and sea in a holistic way and 'Sea Country', as on land, contains evidence of the ancient events by which all geographic features, animals, plants and people were created (Smyth 1994). First Nations people around Australia have long had a strong connection to whales, which has significance as totemic ancestors to some groups. The arrival of whales along Australia's coastline marked the arrival of the "elders of the sea", which follows a songline, or ancient memory code, that traces the journeys of ancestral spirits as they created the land, animals, and lore.
As an example, in South Australia the Ngarrindjeri people of the Fleurieu Peninsula and Lakes region have a strong relationship with the Kondoli (Whale) as a powerful Ngatji (totem), which was of the same flesh and closer than the bond between husband and wife. According to Ngarrindjeri creation stories, Kondoli was a large and strong man who had the ability to make fire; jealous men speared him in the back of his neck and flames leaped out. Kondoli fled to the nearby water to quench his burning wound and became the whale. His wound can still be seen