Tags
Bindal, Cape Pallarenda, Carpet Python, crocodiles, Gabul, Garabarra, Halifax Bay, Jezzine Barracks, Juru, Kissing Point, mangroves, NQ Dry Tropics, Rowes Bay, Townsville City Council, Traditional Owner, Wulgurukaba
The Wulgurukaba people are the Traditional Owners of Saunders Beach and their communion and contact with the land and sea is told throughout the Townsville region in many places e.g. the paths leading from the Garabarra Entrance at Jezzine Barracks, the Gabul Way that snakes around the cliffs of Magnetic Island and Wulgurukaba Plant Trail here at Saunders Beach.
Over time it will be Saunders Beach History Project’s great pleasure to feature images each of these places. Hope you enjoy them.
Jezzine Barracks redevelopment is a 15 hectares heritage open-space project provided by Townsville City Council and the Queensland and Australian Governments. It is located at Kissing Point area of Townsville.
The Wulgurukaba people and the Bindal people called this area Garabarra.
Image 1. The Garabarra Entrance is in Cook Street, North Ward.
Image 2. Wulgurukaba people and Bindal people are the Traditional Owners of Garabarra.
Image 3. Wulgurukaba means canoe people. “The canoes were made from the corkwood tree as the bark was thick and light.” From Elder Arthur Jonson, Wulgurukaba Traditional Owners Group http://wiki.bdtnrm.org.au/index.php?title=Wulgurukaba
Further details from Image 3 above: The path hugs Rowes Bay and the headland seen in the image is Cape Palleranda. Around this Cape is Halifax Bay. Saunders Beach lies in the southern part of Halifax Bay.
Image 4.
Image 5. A crocodile suns itself on rocks. In the background is Magnetic Island.
Image 6.
Image 7. Fish trap with Magnetic Island in the background.
The Wulgurukaba people and the Bindal people had many uses for plants, from food to twine to a remedy for colds. Some of these uses are featured on elegantly-designed sandstone plinths.
Image 8. The Parupar or Beach Hibiscus is common at Saunders Beach, too.
Image 9. Nayaba or Goats-Foot Convolvulus is a purple-flowered beach vine common at Saunders Beach.
Image 10. Willi or Beach Almond seen to the left of the image. The plinth reads: “The large distinctive fruits contain a small edible kernel that has a flavour much like an almond. The kernels from brown dry fruits are best to eat, as they are ripe.
Warning: Do not consume or experiment with native plants as some species are poisonous.”
Image 11. Gerri or Grey Mangrove. At Saunders Beach the Yellow Mangrove is the common species, as seen in the blog post The Mangroves of Saunders Beach.
Image 12.
Image 13. “Big Wind Coming invites people to enter into a symbolic space layered with meaning and connection. The smaller Southern Cross Boulders formation marks out a corroboree or meeting place. The boulders can also been read as the breathing tubes of mangrove roots, ochre grinding pits or termite mounds. The boulders hold small amounts of rainwater and reflect the stars at night. In the centre of the Southern Cross Boulders formation is the Listening Looking Stone, a place of observation and contemplation.” From http://www.visualartist.info/stephennewton/jezzine-barrackskissing-pointgarabarra/big-wind-coming
Image 14.
Image 15 “Belonging”.
Image 16.
Gavin Kum Sing is the creator of “Belonging” and his artist talk comes from inside the carpet python. The recording is activated by pressing the aluminium disc on the collar, just below the snake’s black head (Image 15).
Some features of Gavin Kum Sing’s talk:
He’s a Bindal-Juru-Wulgurukaba man and his drawing shows the birth of his people, how he sees the way in which his people were born to this country through the snake dreaming.
The shape of the snake clearly outlines the geographical coastline from Cape Palleranda all the way through to Cape Cleveland. The figures on the body of the snake are the figures within him and the figures you see are the birth of his people.
On the ocean side you can see the animals and there are people with them. Barramundi, turtle, crocodile, barracuda and dugong. These people that sit with the animals show strength – his people have totems and they were the guardians of those particular animals. Gavin Kum Sing’s people were seasonal and walked through this country. All the other cross-hatches and etchings within this drawing clearly outline the ocean currents and ocean flows.
Image 17 below tells a story of another artwork that features the Carpet Python.
Image 17.
Image 18. The Carpet Python.
Image 19. Connection to Country.
Image 20. Acknowledgement.
References.
North Queensland Dry Tropics, 2015, Viewed 23 November 2016.
http://wiki.bdtnrm.org.au/index.php?title=Wulgurukaba and
Engaging Traditional Owners, NQ Dry Tropics Caring for Country Plan 2005.pdf. http://www.nqdrytropics.com.au/projects/strategy-and-partnerships/,
Stephen Newton, n.d., Australian Artist, Viewed 23 November 2016. http://www.visualartist.info/stephennewton/jezzine-barrackskissing-pointgarabarra/big-wind-coming.
Townsville City Council, 2016, Jezzine Barracks, Viewed 23 November 2016. https://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/facilities-and-recreation/parks-beaches-and-community-venues/jezzine-barracks
Saunders Beach, Queensland, Australia 