North Stradbroke Island Aboriginal Cultural Experiences
Traditional Cultural Presentations Daily at the Salt Water Murris Gallery Dunwich
and at Point Lookout from Coral Sea Gallery
All bookings and enquiries: 34153044
EXPERIENCE THE ABUNDANT CULTURAL WONDERLAND OF NORTH STRADBROKE ISLAND - RIGHT ON BRISBANE'S DOORSTEP!
Some notes on the colourful and unique Indigenous Culture of North Stradbroke Island
Aboriginal Name - Minjerribah which means 'Island in the Sun'
"Was it yesterday Or a thousand years, My eager feet Caressed your paths; My opened fingers Counted grains of sand Hidden in the warmth of time. Now my civilized self Stamps its imprint On reluctant sands And time has flown." “Return to Nature”, My People, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 1970
In the early 1700 to 1800’s, the area of Moreton Bay encompassed many islands. These islands were known collectively as Quandamooka – or Islands in the Bay. There is abundant archaeological evidence to support that the area has been populated for more than 21,000 years, and there is a Midden at Point Lookout that has been dated at around 25,000 years old and another at Polka Point at 4,000 years.
Over centuries travel routes were carved out on the islands and safe passages found on the Bay by the local Indigenous people, and these well used courses have evolved over time into some of the main roads and channels still in use today.
The people of the Quandamooka were separated into tribes in their various locations, the most predominant of these being the Noonuccal and Goenpul of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) and the Ngugi tribe from Moreton Island.
The people of Minjerribah relied on the bounty of the sea for much of their food supply and supplemented this with bush tucker and animals from the land like kangaroo, wallaby, possum, bandicoot and echidna. The women of each tribe collected vegetables and small game whilst the men went out to hunt for marsupials and water fowls and fished for dugong and turtle. Various plants were treated by the women for medicine and general consumption. They pounded the root of the Bungwal Fern into flour used in making bread and used Bunya nuts as a flour to make Johnny Cakes. The women collected honey, midyim berries and Xyleutes moth larvae (witchetty grubs) along with oysters, eugarie, mussels and crabs from the rock pools and along the shore.
It is part of the Noonuccal legend that the men had a special relationship with the dolphins of Minjerribah. The men would call to the dolphins by slapping on the water and digging in the sand with their spears. The dolphins would heed the call and herd shoals of fish in towards the shore where the men caught them with towrow nets. Once the men had taken enough fish for the tribe, any remaining fish would be fed back to the dolphins. This bond between the Noonuccal men and the dolphins is recorded in their art and is well known throughout the islands.
The people had a plentiful supply of fresh water and an abundance of food on which to exist, they were keen hunters on both land and sea. They were adept at making seafaring canoes from tree trunks and travelled to the mainland regularly to hunt for flying fox. Fishing, hunting and gathering was part of the communal economy in which everyone was involved according to their capacity.
All of the people inhabiting Moreton Bay understood the vital relationship between themselves and their environment. They lived a nomadic life, travelling between semi-permanent campsites. As a result they proved remarkable at responsible land, sea and resource management. They have a deep understanding of their unique environment and all aspects of this are evident in integrating the surroundings into sacred sites, dreaming tracks, song lines and the spiritual significance of the natural features of the Islands. They are a people bound by tradition and these traditions are kept alive today in the form of artwork, legends, song and dance and an ongoing respect for the natural surroundings. Corroborees and other ceremonies were an important part of daily life and huge regional gatherings would have had enormous ceremonial, spiritual and cultural significance for all of the tribes of the region.
Let no one say the past is dead. The past is all about us and within. Haunted by tribal memories, I know This little now, this accidental present Is not the all of me, whose long making Is so much of the past… Let none tell me the past is wholly gone. Now is so small a part of time, so small a part Of all the race years that have moulded me. “The Past”, My People, Oodgeroo Noonuccal 1970
Aboriginal Name - Minjerribah which means 'Island in the Sun'
"Was it yesterday Or a thousand years, My eager feet Caressed your paths; My opened fingers Counted grains of sand Hidden in the warmth of time. Now my civilized self Stamps its imprint On reluctant sands And time has flown." “Return to Nature”, My People, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 1970
In the early 1700 to 1800’s, the area of Moreton Bay encompassed many islands. These islands were known collectively as Quandamooka – or Islands in the Bay. There is abundant archaeological evidence to support that the area has been populated for more than 21,000 years, and there is a Midden at Point Lookout that has been dated at around 25,000 years old and another at Polka Point at 4,000 years.
Over centuries travel routes were carved out on the islands and safe passages found on the Bay by the local Indigenous people, and these well used courses have evolved over time into some of the main roads and channels still in use today.
The people of the Quandamooka were separated into tribes in their various locations, the most predominant of these being the Noonuccal and Goenpul of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) and the Ngugi tribe from Moreton Island.
The people of Minjerribah relied on the bounty of the sea for much of their food supply and supplemented this with bush tucker and animals from the land like kangaroo, wallaby, possum, bandicoot and echidna. The women of each tribe collected vegetables and small game whilst the men went out to hunt for marsupials and water fowls and fished for dugong and turtle. Various plants were treated by the women for medicine and general consumption. They pounded the root of the Bungwal Fern into flour used in making bread and used Bunya nuts as a flour to make Johnny Cakes. The women collected honey, midyim berries and Xyleutes moth larvae (witchetty grubs) along with oysters, eugarie, mussels and crabs from the rock pools and along the shore.
It is part of the Noonuccal legend that the men had a special relationship with the dolphins of Minjerribah. The men would call to the dolphins by slapping on the water and digging in the sand with their spears. The dolphins would heed the call and herd shoals of fish in towards the shore where the men caught them with towrow nets. Once the men had taken enough fish for the tribe, any remaining fish would be fed back to the dolphins. This bond between the Noonuccal men and the dolphins is recorded in their art and is well known throughout the islands.
The people had a plentiful supply of fresh water and an abundance of food on which to exist, they were keen hunters on both land and sea. They were adept at making seafaring canoes from tree trunks and travelled to the mainland regularly to hunt for flying fox. Fishing, hunting and gathering was part of the communal economy in which everyone was involved according to their capacity.
All of the people inhabiting Moreton Bay understood the vital relationship between themselves and their environment. They lived a nomadic life, travelling between semi-permanent campsites. As a result they proved remarkable at responsible land, sea and resource management. They have a deep understanding of their unique environment and all aspects of this are evident in integrating the surroundings into sacred sites, dreaming tracks, song lines and the spiritual significance of the natural features of the Islands. They are a people bound by tradition and these traditions are kept alive today in the form of artwork, legends, song and dance and an ongoing respect for the natural surroundings. Corroborees and other ceremonies were an important part of daily life and huge regional gatherings would have had enormous ceremonial, spiritual and cultural significance for all of the tribes of the region.
Let no one say the past is dead. The past is all about us and within. Haunted by tribal memories, I know This little now, this accidental present Is not the all of me, whose long making Is so much of the past… Let none tell me the past is wholly gone. Now is so small a part of time, so small a part Of all the race years that have moulded me. “The Past”, My People, Oodgeroo Noonuccal 1970
