What is Yolŋu science?

So everything is integrated: science, language, culture, law - they're all integrated, whereas in the non-aboriginal worldview all these things are taught separately. Dr R. Marika

Nanikiya Munuŋgiritj talks about Yolŋu science

The Yolŋu worldview does not separate science from other kinds of thinking. Yolŋu 'science' is embedded in Yolŋu 'law', laid down by the ancestors and passed on down the generations as a code for living.

Yolŋu law gives each clan rights to areas of land and sea and the means to manage these. Clan names, songs and designs associated with each clan's country store detailed knowledge of that country's environment, gained through thousands of years of observation.

There is much knowledge of natural patterns and processes embedded in clan names, songs, ceremony and designs.

Further reading: Munuŋgiritj, Nanikiya. "Statement on the value of Biodiversity", Y'a'n, 7 May 1996 pp. 4-6, Yirrkala Literature Production Centre.