ABSTRACT
Momington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Queensland, is the territory of the Lardil people (see Figure 1.1). When a Presbyterian Mission was established in 1914, the Lardil population was about 230, and, as Momington, including the small adjacent islands (Sydney Island and Wallaby Island), covered an area of 310 square miles, the population density was 0.7 to the square mile, which is a fairly high density for hunter-gatherers. For much of the year Momington is a rewarding hunting environment as is normally the case for all the Wellesley Islands. The Lardil (and other Wellesley Islanders) were basically hunters of the sea from which they obtained (and still do so) a great variety of fish, shellfish, and also turtle and dugong. For the most part they camped along the beaches ever watchful for what the sea had to offer. Food was also obtained from the land, particularly such plant food as panja (Eleocharis dulcis), water lilies (Nymphaea spp.), pandanus nuts and wardirr nuts (Cycas), roots and berries, and various game including snake, goanna, mangrove rat, swamp turtle, duck, brolga, and wallaby.
