north east regional extra | November 13 - 19, 2019
nemedia.com.au
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November 13 - 19, 2019
By BELINDA HARRISON
IN the Aboriginal community of Maningrida, heart of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Wangaratta teacher Mason Scholes, or ‘Wakadj’ as he is also known, discovered a passion for the Indigenous community, their stories and culture...and 46 new species of spiders. “You get a skin name when you get to the community - the Kunibidji people call me Wakadj, whereas the Burarra and Kuninjku speaking people call me Ngarridj,” Mason said. “Something that’s really special about going to the Northern Territory is that there isn’t an ‘us and them’ mentality, white people are called Balanda, but we’re all just people living, learning and achieving together.” One of those achievements was the discovery of 46 new species of spiders. “I had been a ranger at Mt Buffalo and a teacher and when I got to Maningrida in 2003, the secondary school had just been set up, before that there were some extension studies for students to do but there wasn’t really a secondary program,” Mason said. “We had to develop a new curriculum around what was going to interest students but also enable them to com-
plete their Northern Territory Certificate of Education. “One of those had to be a sciencebased subject and I got thrown science and asked ‘what are you going to do?’ “Naturally I looked around at good role models, leaders in the community and exciting things to do, and I linked up with the local Djelk rangers straight away. “During university, I completed a survey of spiders in the Warby Ranges, so I got my new students to investigate spiders outside the classroom.” Mason’s students found 18 new species of spiders in the first year alone, and when they researched spiders on one of the floodplains, it led to not only the discovery of a new species of tarantula, but the most densely populated area in the world for tarantulas, with a possible 25,000 calling it home. Over the course of the teaching program, a total of 46 new species were found and led to Mason winning the Northern Territory Secondary Teaching Award, being a finalist in the BHP Billiton Science Teaching Award (both in 2006) and winning the Eureka Prize for Science in 2007.
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Walking in two worlds
Continued page 6
◆ SPIDER-MAN: Mason Scholes and his Northern Territory secondary school students discovered 46 new spider species. Mason hopes to have similar opportunities here in Wangaratta. PHOTO: Mel Guy
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