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Perspectives
Essays and explainers from the Yugambeh Nation on identity, law, names, history and language.
Identity & belonging
Who we are, and how we are understood
Identity & belonging
Why ‘Continuous’ Is the Most Important Word in Our History
We often hear that Aboriginal Australian cultures are the oldest living continuous cultures on Earth. It is worth looking properly at what that means, because for some people it is a…
2 minute readIdentity & belonging
More Than a Language: Why ‘Nation’ Is a Political Term
In Australia, people often assume that if two groups share a similar language or similar stories, they must be the same people. As the comic shows, we do not apply that same logic to…
2 minute readIdentity & belonging
Unravelling Australia's Indigenous Tapestry: Exploring Traditional Owners, Historical Peoples, and the Legacy of the Stolen Generations
Australia's cultural landscape is rich and diverse, woven with the stories, traditions, and experiences of its Indigenous peoples. The Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders, collectively known as Australia's First…
5 minute readIdentity & belonging
Homogenisation of First Nations is Discrimination: Traditional Owners fight assimilation
We are Yugambeh, not just ‘Aboriginal’ - This is our country. All across this country, there are local councils, States and Federal offices seeking to create meaningful relationships with local…
7 minute readLaw & recognition; a series in four parts
The Real Issue
Aboriginality is still a mystery to most Australians. From the Commonwealth test to Mabo, Love and Thoms, and the Voice.
Start with Part ITruth-telling
The frontier, remembered on our own terms
Truth-telling
The ‘Empty Land’ Myth: How Many Yugambeh People Were Really Here?
Most people are taught that before 1788, Aboriginal groups were small: perhaps a few groups of 150 people wandering here and there across a vast area. The data says otherwise. Read…
2 minute readTruth-telling
Anno Incursi: Kilcoy and the ‘Free’ Settlement of February 1842
Two dates nine days apart in February 1842 fundamentally altered the landscape of our Country. On 1 February, more than 50 of our neighbouring kin were poisoned at Kilcoy, north of…
3 minute readTruth-telling
The Mary River, February 1860
In early February 1860, in what is now Maryborough in the Wide Bay region, violence once again fell upon our Old People within the Butchulla Nation. Under the command of Native Police…
2 minute readTruth-telling
January 26 Is Not Our Founding Date
January 26 is not a national milestone. It is a regional anniversary of the colonial occupation of the Gadigal shores.
2 minute readTruth-telling
Remembering Dundalli
We pause to honour the memory of Dundalli, a man whose strength, leadership and resistance continue to echo across the south-east. On 5 January, the anniversary of his execution in…
2 minute readNames & history
What we are called, and the story of our people
Names & history
Uncle Bullum (John Allen): The Bridge
If 1842 was the year the fences went up, then Uncle Bullum (John Allen), born eight years later in 1850, belonged to the generation that had to navigate the narrow gaps between them.
2 minute readNames & history
Ritual over Ruin: Understanding Aboriginal Dispute Resolution
When we talk about warfare in a Western context, we usually think of conquest, mass casualties and total war. For the Yugambeh Nation and many other groups across the continent,…
2 minute readNames & history
A Century of Mapping the Yugambeh Nation
Mapping the territories of Aboriginal nations has long been a daunting task, fraught with historical complexities and cultural intricacies that defy conventional cartographic methods. The legacy of colonisation…
3 minute readNames & history
Jenny Graham
Born c.1860 on the Albert river near Logan, Jenny Drumley was the daughter of Warri and Daramlee and the sister of Billy Drumley and Emily Blow.
2 minute readNames & history
Titto & Bahrumbin
In roughly the year 40AI (40 years after the Dagai invasion - c.1872 by the Gregorian standard), a massacre took place in the town of Southport.
2 minute readNames & history
The One True Name Fallacy: Tindale's Legacy and the Yugambeh/Minyangbal/Bundjalung names
In the realm of human cognition and language, the fallacy of insisting on a single, exclusive name for a concept or entity is known as the "One True Name Fallacy"…
3 minute readNames & history
The Early Germans in Australia and Yugambeh Relations
Do you know the story of the first Australian-Germans and their history with Yugambeh people?…
3 minute readLanguage
How Yugambeh works, and why it matters
Language
Gijeri: Why Sorry Is Felt in the Gijara
When we reflect on the healing needed for the Stolen Generations, a question follows: what does it actually mean to be sorry? In Yugambeh culture, sorry is not just something you say.…
2 minute readLanguage
5 things that make Yugambeh a special and unique language!
1. Yugambeh predominately marks verbs for Aspect, not Tense. So if tense is where an action sits in time, i.e. the past, present, or future, aspect could be…
2 minute read