Empowering traditional owners by documenting the ecological and cultural values of rock holes in North East Victoria

Australia supports a rich and diverse variety of plants and animals that occur on rocky environments (Michael and Lindenmayer 2018). Caves, overhangs and ledges create cool microclimates, while cliff faces, and treeless summits are exposed to the elements and support species adapted to harsh environments. One feature that is unique to rocky outcrops or escarpments are rock holes or rock pools, often located on the slopes and summits of dome-shaped granite outcrops (Figure 1). These features are typically called gnammas in Australia, a word which has origins from the Noongar peoples of southwest Australia and is thought to be an Anglicised derivative of ngama or ngamar, a word that refers to pits in granite or water-filled holes (Timms and Halse 2020). This term gnamma is now used Nationwide and even overseas and broadly describes rock pools, basins, holes and wells. Gnamma formation is through natural processes, whereby the softer minerals in the rock dissolve in standing water to create shallow pits. In some regions of Australia, these natural holes were deepened by Indigenous people through the use of fire and stone tools. Many gnammas were then covered with bark or capping rocks to reduce evaporation or animals fouling the water. Despite the widespread use of the word gnamma, different language groups are likely to have different words to describe these features. In north-east Victoria, the Duduroa Dhargal word for these features is unknown and so in this report, out of respect, gnammas of North East Victoria are termed rock holes.