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Questions & answers
What people most often ask the Yugambeh Nation: about our names, our Country and clans, citizenship, language, and working with us.
Names and identity
6 questions
Yugambeh, Minyangbal, Nganduwal?
We are a people of many names, unlike European groups who may only use a single ethnonym (self-name) for themselves, the citizens of our First Nation are alternatively known as Yugambeh, Minyangbal, or Nganduwal.
Read more: The One True Name Fallacy
Nation, Language Group, or Tribe?
First Nations cover wide geographical areas, and within these nations are typically clan groups, composed of families. Clans within a Nation share a common language, lore, and kinship system, which is why a Nation can also be referred to as a Language Group. The Yugambeh Language Group is composed of nine clans.
‘Tribe’ is a European word that tends to imply western preconceptions of being ‘uncivilised’, or ‘lacking modern technology’. Nation, Language Group, community, people, or mob is usually preferable to ‘tribe’.
Read more: The clans
What is Bundjalung?
Bundjalung is a term used to refer to a number of First Nations, being a reference to a region (roughly the Northern Rivers into Queensland) where the Aboriginal people share similar language and culture. Bundjalung is a wider group, but it is not political in nature like a Nation.
Within the Bundjalung area are a number of Nations/Language Groups, like Yugambeh, Githabul, and Wahlubal as examples. The anthropological term for this is a Cultural Bloc.
In more recent times, the term Bundjalung, which was traditionally used by groups around the Tabulam and Grafton areas, has become a more generalised term for Aboriginal groups within the area, including the Yugambeh/Minyangbal - the legacy of the social influence of the One True Name Fallacy continues to cause social harm in this instance as people falsely assume they need to forgo Yugambeh/Minyangbal if they are to use Bundjalung.
Read more: The One True Name Fallacy
What is a First Nation?
First Nation is a term that recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups as the first peoples of Australia. ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘Indigenous’ are words that have failed to represent the unique cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups, and are often defined racially, rather than socially or culturally by wider Australian society. Using the term First Nation recognises that the various language groups are separate and unique sovereign nations.
What does Mibunn mean?
Mibunn means ‘Wedge-Tailed Eagle’ (Aquila audax), and refers to the Aboriginal people of the Yugambeh Nation, because all our people are eagles in spirit.
Read more: A brief history
What is the difference between Traditional Owners and Historical Peoples?
Traditional Owners are Aboriginal Australians who maintain a spiritual and custodial connection to specific areas of land, passed down through generations.
Historical Peoples refer to Indigenous groups who were once Traditional Owners of specific areas but have been forcibly removed or displaced due to colonisation, economic pressures, and other factors.
Traditional Owners, are the original First Nation of an area, they have a right to self-determination and a right to their cultural identity. They should not be homogenised with Historical Peoples or other groups, simply because they are all ‘Aboriginal’.
Read more: Unravelling Australia’s Indigenous Tapestry, Homogenisation of First Nations is Discrimination
Country, clans and history
6 questions
Where is Yugambeh Country?
Yugambeh Country runs from the ranges to the sea, in an area now commonly known as south-east Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales.
It takes in the valleys of five rivers: Dugulumba (Logan), Bilinooba (Albert), Gumera (Coomera), Nyirang (Nerang) and Gugai (Tweed).
Read more: Place names, Home page map
What are the clans?
Across our Nation lie the Jaran (Freshwater) and Ngarang (Saltwater) regions, composed of bands of smaller groups known as clans, family groups or locality groups; each being individually named and holding a piece of country that is theirs to care for.
The nine clans are Mununjali, Wanggeriburra, Migunburri, Murangburra, Gugugan, Bullongin, Kombumerri, Tulgigin and Cudgenburra.
Read more: The clans
Why do some people name more than one clan?
Our people find their spouse from different clans and families, so many people have different obligations and responsibilities for a number of countries, i.e. the country of their father, mother, mother’s mother, father’s father and more!
You may hear people use their clan names, e.g. I’m a Mununjali/Kombumeri man., or you may hear references to major towns and cities, e.g. I’m a Beaudesert/Tweed man.
Read more: The clans
Who is Jabreen?
It is said that in our Dreaming, long ago, three brothers came to live at what is now known as Brunswick Heads. After some time they went their own ways; one went south, one went west, and the other north. The brother who came north was Yarberri/Yabarrain, who was also known as Jabreen. It was Yarberri who made us into Mibunn, who taught us our language, our lore, our initiation, and most importantly, how to care for ngalingah jagun (our country).
Read more: A brief history
When did colonisation reach Yugambeh Country?
The Dagay (whitefella) first established a ‘penal colony’ at Brisbane, just north of the Yugambeh Nation, in 1824. Settlement near the Moreton Bay Penal Colony was restricted for a period of time with the implementation of a 50-mile exclusion zone, which encompassed a vast majority of Yugambeh country. This lasted 18 years before the area was proclaimed open for settlement on the 10th of February, 1842; our anno incursi, year of invasion.
Read more: A brief history
Who do Yugambeh people descend from today?
It is estimated that by the turn of the century, our clans were reduced by 90%, with modern Yugambeh people tracing their descent to about 30 Ancestors (who were born c.1820 to 1860) whose families survived colonisation.
Read more: A brief history, People
Citizenship
5 questions
Am I a Yugambeh citizen?
If you are a known descendant of a recognised Yugambeh Ancestor, including by adoption, and satisfy the criteria of our Nation’s law and custom, you are automatically a Yugambeh citizen.
Your right to Yugambeh citizenship depends on your line of descent, your birthplace, your parents’ citizenship at the time of your birth, the residency history of your Yugambeh parent/s before your birth, and the kinship associations of your parents and/or grandparents.
Read more: Yugambeh citizenship
I was born here, or have lived here a long time. Am I entitled to citizenship?
It is not simply one’s association with, or birth within, the Yugambeh Nation that makes a person a Yugambeh citizen. Yugambeh citizenship is governed by the principle of Jus sanguinis, the Right of Blood.
Kinship means your family’s connection with the Yugambeh family group you descend from. Living alongside, or associating with, other Aboriginal people within Yugambeh Country does not by itself create that connection.
Read more: Yugambeh citizenship
My family has a story that we may be Yugambeh. What now?
We receive many sincere enquiries from people who believe they may be Yugambeh. When we research these family histories, most turn out to connect to another Aboriginal group, or to South Sea Islander ancestors who were remembered in the family as Aboriginal.
Our rolls are built on birth, death and marriage records going back to the mid 1800s. They trace our Ancestors through their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, to around the 1960s. If your parent or grandparent is not on our rolls, it is very unlikely that you are Yugambeh.
Read more: Yugambeh citizenship
How do I check whether my family is on the rolls?
Contact us with your parents’ and grandparents’ names and any family records you have. We can check them against our rolls. Please don’t send original documents. We’ll let you know if copies are needed.
What if my family story leads somewhere else?
If your family story leads somewhere else, it is still worth following. Many people today are reconnecting with families separated by past government policies, and organisations such as Link-Up can help with that search.
Language
2 questions
Is there a Yugambeh dictionary?
Yes. Our online dictionary was compiled by Margaret Sharpe from historical and recent records of Yugambeh and its neighbours, including Livingstone’s Minyung, Bray’s words and sentences from around Murwillumbah, and Geynyan from the Warwick to Killarney area. You can search it in Yugambeh or in English.
A new word from the dictionary appears on our home page each week.
Read more: Yugambeh dictionary, Word of the week
Why are Yugambeh words spelt in different ways?
Yugambeh words were written down by different people, each spelling them their own way. The word jagun (country, ground, earth) appears in the records as chagun (Allen & Lane) and tchagoom (Hanlon), among others.
The dictionary lets you search in any spelling: Sharpe’s, Allen & Lane’s, Hanlon’s, Watson’s, or a sound-alike spelling of your own.
Read more: Look up jagun
Working with the Nation
3 questions
How do I acknowledge Yugambeh Country?
Our Acknowledging Country page sets out whose Country this is, how to give an Acknowledgement of Country, and how to ask the Nation for a Welcome to Country.
Read more: Acknowledging Yugambeh Country
Who should councils and organisations consult?
All across this country, there are local councils, States and Federal offices seeking to create meaningful relationships with local Indigenous peoples and First Nations. From Reconciliation Action Plans to NAIDOC events, and even more involved matters like managing public lands - all of these require consultation and input, but who exactly is being consulted and under what circumstances?
More often than not, there is not just one Aboriginal community locally, but a variety of Indigenous groups, Traditional Owners, Historical Peoples, and Stolen Generations - and we are not the same.
For cultural heritage matters and consultation on Yugambeh Country, contact the Nation.
Read more: Homogenisation of First Nations is Discrimination
How do I contact the Nation?
Send us a message through our contact page with questions about citizenship, our rolls, culture or anything on this site.
Read more: Contact the Nation
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Still have a question?
Send us a message about citizenship, our rolls, culture or anything on this site.
Contact the Nation