The seasonal cycle recorded on the Gooniyandi calendar follows four main seasons: Barranga, Yidirla, Ngamari and Girlinggoowa.
Gooniyandi people closely follow meteorological events, including wind speed and direction, clouds and rain types, as each event is linked to different behaviours of animals. Gooniyandi people can therefore look to the weather to tell them when it is the best time for hunting and collecting different plants and animals.
The Gulumoerrgin seasonal year is divided into seven main seasons.
The development of the calendar is part of the National Environmental Research Program and is a valuable cultural learning aid to help share Aboriginal knowledge with the next generation, while also providing relevant entry points for students into the science curriculum.
The calendar highlights important food and medicine plants and the MalakMalak seasons when they are available in the Daly River catchment.
CSIRO worked with the Ngadju community to develop a summary of elements of their seasonal ecological knowledge.
The Ngan'gi seasons calendar represents a wealth of Indigenous ecological knowledge.
The seasonal cycle recorded on the calendar closely follows the cycle of native annual speargrass (Sarga intrans), with many of the 13 seasons identified and named according to speargrass life stages.
The calendar documents ecological knowledge about Ngurrungurrudjba that has been passed down to Ms Lawson from her mother, preserving it for future generations.
The Ngurrungurrudjba calendar also means that important cultural knowledge is now accessible to the tens of thousands of people who visit Kakadu each year.
The calendar covers the three major Tiwi seasons and thirteen minor overlapping seasons.
Development of the calendars came from a desire to document seasonal-specific knowledge and ecological knowledge of the Tiwi Islands for students and the broader community, as well as a strong concern about loss of knowledge as older people pass away.
The calendar combines Walmajarri seasonal names with the Walmajarri people's knowledge of both desert and river country and documents detailed knowledge of fishing – of species' behaviour, fishing techniques and seasonality.
Three main seasons identified by Walmajarri speakers are: Parranga, Yitilal and Makurra.