Reinstating Jirrbal cultural landscapes within Queensland's wet tropics World Heritage area.

Start date
Research partner(s)
Wabubadda Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC

The Wabubadda (Jirrbal) Aboriginal Corporation (WAC) will direct this project, combining Jirrbal Elders knowledge and intelligence with previous archaeological, historical and vegetation research. The culturally significant study areas of Koombooloomba and Urumbal Pocket (UP and KP) are surviving remnant eucalypt ‘pockets’ in Jirrbal Country, within Queensland’s Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The archaeological site at UP is the oldest Aboriginal campsite in the Wet Tropics, dating back 8000 years. Surviving Jirrbal oral history refers to KP as a traditional women’s site, used by Jirrbal women to teach young girls, and is also the location of several significant trees with dendroglyphs. 

Aims and Methods

1. Collect baseline data on natural and cultural resources. Jirrbal Land Managers and CSIRO botanists will undertake vegetation assessments in specified areas, incorporating current (non-cultural input) management practises with cultural knowledge.

Training will be integrated with standardised vegetation assessments, cultural resource mapping, long-term monitoring, and management planning. Land Managers will be upskilled in basic archaeological survey and site recording techniques, undertaking assessments in culturally sensitive areas previously not inspected, and receive first-hand experience in field work by professional archaeologists with vast field experience.

Jirrbal Elders will also work with the archaeologists to guide the dendroglyph research, recording the health of the trees and setting management priorities. Drone flights will be undertaken over Jirrbal Country to record the current landscape, providing detailed aerial photography to compare with available digitised legacy imagery. This will produce a composite of the past and present biocultural habitat and allow mapping of cultural landscapes.

2. Repatriation of excavated cultural materials to country. Archaeologists will facilitate the repatriation of cultural materials previously excavated from Urumbal Pocket. Our Elders will be present to celebrate bringing the material home to country.

3. Production of the ‘Jirrbal natural and cultural management manual’ for the community, government, and non-government resource managers. The Jirrbal natural and cultural management manual will be an important tool in future co-management of our country. The results from the project will guide the manual structure, incorporating knowledge gained from field data, in-house data entry, survey and recording techniques, identifying archaeological site types and other cultural evidence. It will include georeferenced imagery of Jirrbal country and historical information to enhance mapping research skills. Manuals will aid future independent work of the community, amongst other things.

This project provides the Jirrbal community with a range of new invaluable skills. Jirrbal people will be participating in basic archaeological, vegetation and animal survey techniques, undertaking surveys in culturally sensitive areas previously not inspected to record cultural sites. Previous and new data collected will inform future co-management plans of cultural and natural resources.

We will receive accredited training working with a remote licensed drone pilot, documenting our country while learning new technology. In addition to our Land Managers involvement, the project provides many additional Jirrbal people with employment opportunities, including cooks, camp manager, administration, and project assistants.

This project strengthens our ability to manage our native title land.

Output(s)

There are no listed outputs for this project.