Status: Stock Lorna Shuan, Kurriyala (Carpet Snake) The carpet snake used to be an important food animal for our ancestors. They wrapped the meat in native ginger leaves and cooked it on the hot coals of the ground oven. They also used the skin to make head bands or skillfully sewed Read more…
Status: Stock Vanessa Cannon, Makarr (Fish Trap) Fish traps are called Makarr in our language. They were made by men only. Our fathers and uncles used to make them with the lawyer vine. They stripped the stems and then soaked them in the river to keep them soft and bendy. They Read more…
Status: Stock Karen Shuan, Diwan (Scrub Turkey) Many years ago, our ancestors lived in harmony with the rainforest and other parts of the land, they knew many different ways of hunting and gathering for food. Diwan (Scrub Turkey) was an important food source for us. The women used to collect Read more…
Status: Stock Laurence Gibson, Kirbaji (Dugong) Kirbaji (Dugong) is an Ancestral Spirit Being (Totem) that I inherited it from my mother’s side. It is my Totem. The dugong was also an important food source for my ancestors. Only men were allowed to hunt them, and only men had the right Read more…
Status: Stock Margaret Rocky, Ngunyin (Dillybag) Design Dillybags played a vital part in Kuku Yalanji culture. Women used them to carry food when out hunting and gathering or soak bitter yams in creeks before cooking them. Dillybags were also used to hold personal and sacred items.
(VC): Kaddanji (Black Cockatoo) The black cockatoo is my totem. It has been passed down to me from my grandmother and her sisters, to my mum and her sisters and then it came to me and my sisters. I use the black cockatoo often in my art not only because Read more…
(KS): Kookaburra The kookaburra has a cultural connection with the Yalanji clans, they are significant for being a spiritual sign.
Kunjuri (Rainforest Shield) Traditional shields were carved from a single piece of timber cut from side of the buttress root of a rainforest fig-tree. The kidney shaped shields are unique to the rainforest Bama of Far North Queensland. They were decorated with clan, totem or moiety designs using natural ochres Read more…