GBR Traditional Owners
The information about Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people contained in this site, is based on material sourced from the websites and publications listed on the links and references page
Who are the traditional owners of the Great Barrier Reef?
Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people are
the two Indigenous groups of Australia. The groups living along the
Queensland coast from the eastern Torres Strait Islands to just north
of Bundaberg are the Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier
Reef. Each have their own distinctive culture and identity and
within both these groups there are many more clans and kinship groups
whose discrete characteristics further distinguish one from the
other.
Aboriginal people are the first Australians and are widely recognised as the oldest civilisation in the World. Archaeological evidence of their presence across the continent can be dated back many thousands of years and predates the European colonisation of Australia, which occurred from 1788. As hunter-gatherers, Aboriginal people relied on plants, animals and the environment for their survival and so have a well-developed knowledge about the natural world.
Torres Strait Islander people are sea-faring people who are ethnically related to the Melanesians of the South-West Pacific. Their homelands lie in the Torres Strait, which is situated between the tip of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland and Papua New Guinea to the north. It is here, north-east of Murray Island (Mer) in the Torres Strait, that the Great Barrier Reef begins. Traditional community life on the islands revolves around hunting, fishing, gardening and trading relationships. Food from the sea is a valuable part of the economy, culture and diet of Torres Strait Islanders whose seafood consumption per person is amongst the highest in the world.
Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people have a long continuing relationship with the Great Barrier Reef region and its natural resources. There are both similarities and differences between the ways in which each Traditional Owner group uses the sea in their customary practices. Ancestors, languages and ceremonies can provide a link between coastal clan groups and their particular areas of land and sea country. Trade networks, beliefs, music, art, laws and creation stories are still alive and continue today. While these are just some characteristics that give Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people their unique identity, they also provide a good insight into the diversity of their cultures.
Native Title Rights
In 1992, the Australian High Court (which is the highest
court in Australia) finally recognised that Australia was not simply an
empty piece of land when Captain Cook sailed up the coast in 1770 to
claim the eastern half of the continent as a piece of British real
estate. Aboriginal people were already occupying
the country in established settled communities with their own social
and political systems and had been for countless
centuries.
Native Title is the recognition in Australian law that Indigenous people had a system of law and ownership of their lands before European settlement. Where that traditional connection to land and waters has been maintained and where government actions have not removed it, the law recognises this as native title. The Native Title Act was introduced in 1993 and provides a way for dealing with Indigenous peoples Native Title rights and interests to their land and sea areas.
There are more than 70 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Owner clan groups along the Queensland coast from the eastern Torres Strait Islands to just north of Bundaberg that express Native Title rights and interests in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Some of the broad Traditional Owner groups are:
Traditional Owner Group
Name These
regions are an Indication only of the area
where
Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Traditional Owner Groups assert
rights and interests.
Darnley Island groups Eastern Torres Strait Islands and Northern Great Barrier Reef region
Murray Island groups Eastern Torres Strait Islands and Northern Great Barrier Reef region
Gudang Newcastle Bay region
Yadhaigana Captain Billy Landing region
Wuthathi Cape Grenville region
Kuuku Ya'u Portland Road region
Kanthanumpun Claude River region
Night Islands group Night Island region
Umpila Cape Sidmouth region
Lama Lama Princess Charlotte Bay region
Ngulan peoples Starke River region
Thiltharr clan Hopevale region
Kuku Yalanji Bloomfield/Daintree region
Yirrijandji People Palm Cove region
Gimuy Yidinji Cairns/Trinity Inlet region
Gurabana Gunggandji Kings Beach region
Guru Gulu Gunggandji Yarrabah region
Mandingalbai Yidinji Cooper Point region
Lower Coastal Yidinji Russell River region
Ma:Mu Peoples Innisfail region
Djiru Mission Beach region
Gulnay Tully region
Girramay Cardwell region
Bandjin Hinchinbrook region
Warrgamay Lucinda region
Nywaigi Forest Beach region
Manbarra Palm Island region
Bindal Townsville region
Wulgurukaba Magnetic Island/Townsville region
Juru Ayr region
Gia Cape Upstart region
Ngaro Whitsunday region
Wiri peoples Mackay region
Yuibera peoples Mackay region
Birri peoples Mackay region
Barada Barna
Kabalbara
Sarina region
Yetimarla
peoples
Koinjimal peoples Broadsound region
Darumbal Shoalwater Bay region
Woppaburra Yeppoon region
Taribelang Bunda Bundaberg region
Bailai Gladstone region
Gurang Gurang Town of 1770 region
