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LlTTLE RAMSAY PRESSFirst published in Australia by Little Ramsay Press 2004 176 I. Cairns, Queensland, "1870, AustraliaPO BoxPhone: (07) 4055 I 163Email: ramsaypreSSl.@ozemail.com.auThe book is acknowledged as written by:Rosemary Hill. Adelaide Baird, David Buchanan. Charlie Denman. Peter Fischer. Karen Gibson. Jimmy Johnson, Alma KelTY,George Kulka (Snr), Eddie Madsen, Alec Olbar Unr), liZZIe Olbar. jack Pierce, judy Shuan, Ena Shipton, Harry Shipton (SOl:),Jimmy Smith. Rene Sykes. Eileen Walker.Wilma Walker. PeterWallace, Bobby YeITY. Dolly Yougie. Doreen Ball. Edward Barney,Raymond Buchanan. Ronald Buchanan, Harold Denman. Reuben Fischer. Roy Gibson, Leah Talbot. Elizabeth Tayley,Norman Tayley. Dawn Walker. FranCiS Walker. Kathleen Walker. Marilyn Wallace and UlyYougle.The book was translated by:Doreen Ball. Eileen Walkel: Francis Walkel: Kathleen Walker. and U y Yougie.All imagery and mformation In thiS book IS the copynght. Intellectual and cultural propertyof the Eastem Kuku·YalanJi people. Special conditions apply to the artwork as outlined below.Reprodualon or communication or use of the Images or InfOlmation in any form or mediums stnctly forbidden.Individuals or organisations Wishing to publish or reproduce or use in any way any Images or Information shouldcontact Jim Brooks. Senior Legal Officer. Cape York Land CounCil on 0412 353735 or jbrooks@cyk.org,auThe Eastern Kuku·Yal;lnjl people will tt1ke legt11 t1dion to enforce their rieht ; in the ra ;e ofany unauthOrised use. reproduction or communication. Photographs by Steven Nowakowski unless othel'\oVlse captioned. Af!IN'orks by Karen J. Gibson.The arLJst retains her right to use her artwork for other purposes as she sees fit. Map by Adelia Edwards, TESAG Cartography, james Cook University. Seasonal Charts prepared by Jacqul Smith of OX Sales.G,dphic Design by Stephen Lane. f"lanhew Coghlan & Bob WiUlringron @ I"lak Advertising.Scans by Highscan, Cairns,Printing by Everbest, China.ISBN 0-9580984-1-7HilI. R" et al. 2004, Ya/anp.Warranga Kaban. Ya/anp People o(!he Ram(orest Fire Management 8001 .Calms: Little Ramsay Press.I. Kuku· YalanJi (Australian people) . Socia) life and customsII. Fire management rainforestAcknowlcdgmcnt :For acknowledgements see page I I.This project has been supported by: Rainforest CR( NaturalHeritageTrustH, .,r.U/ ,N,,, ., """',,6Wu""WuJ.1AboMti1lll1 Communrty C"''''t,1BubuN,pdimunku Au stralianConservationFoundation

8ForewordKaban Jakalbanum Introduction12113NgaJku YalanJi-Warranga Bubuku Fire in the Yalanji world20 1 21NYUJ3kuramun Kuku NgaJkuku Cusrom3ry Law and Fire26 1 27Kanbal Marri-Marringa Kuku Ngujakuramun Senior Ngalku law f lore Holders28129Kwtnyala George Kulka (5nr.)28 1 29 30 131ChaUalJlnkarr Peter FischerSurra Charlie Denman --- 32 / 33'r'arrl-Kalbay Harry ShiptOn (Snr.)H 1 35Jina-babaJi Jimmy Johnson36 137Ngalba-yalbay DoUy Yougie38 1 39Dukul-dandi Bobby Verry40141Wambl Jack Pierce42 1 43BabaJI Alec Olbar Onr.)44 1 45NgadlJlna Wilma Walkcr46 1 47Binda Buyun Alma KerryNgaldlku. NguJakura - Ngalku In the beginning:The Ngujakura and Ngalku--"4.8 I 49-'5:0: I 51wangJ3 - Wang;aku Waybal - WaybaIKadan:'Y"alat'ojl-wan'angka ngadl-ngadlku bubungumuruku bundann When the Waybala came:Yalanji survival in the contact era58 159BuluriJifWunganli, Ngalku waJukuda mlnyakalmayika Seasons. Fire and Bush Tucker66 1 67Walu-Ylndu Walu-)'Indu Saya, buluriJi/wungalijl Different fires. different seasons 7.::6 1 77MalTa., Wulo.ay YlIla. yuxluma 1kAnbttl bttllo.a,l·b.!tI""JMarra,Wukay and other Tucker for Processing82 183Blnalmal Ngalkuku YalanJinka learning about fire the Yalanji way90 190Balkawan Ngalkuku Bubuku Planning for Fires on Country94 195NS;tl""'''84 &,bu Dayab;l.j (Ng;.nJ'nJ." R.'lm;.nJ.:1 NgioIJ.lIrrrlUJ.,I KI'Jlnb)Bringing our Country backYaianJI Ngalku Yala Ngan.1nga Bubu YalanJi Fire and the FutureReferences98199108 1 1091107

The Researchers by Rosemary HillMany people have contr ibuted to t his book. The idea of the book first came alive as part ofcollaborative fire research between Ya/an)i people and myself star'ting in 1995. Some ofthis researchcontributed to my doctoral thesis completed in 1998 with James Cook University. Both content andcollaborative process has been reported on in the academic literature (see references pg I 10).The senior Ya/an)i traditional owners conducting the research were passionate about wanting topass on their knowledge of country and fire to younger' Ya/an)i people. Key senior co-researchersincluded Alma Kerry, George Kulka (Snr.), Peter Fischer. Harry Shipton (Snr ), Eileen Walker. JackPierce, Charlie Denman,Alec Olbar Unr.), DollyYougie, BobbyYerry.Jimmy Johnson, Rene Sykes, EnaShipton, and Wilma Walker. A little part of the wonderful stories of these people's lives are in thebook. Peter Fischer in particular described to me the sort of book he wanted, with pictures, andwr'itten in Ya/anji language. Adelaide Baird and David Buchanan, who worked alongside me as coresearchers at Wujal Wujal and Mossman respectively. also strongly supported the idea of a book forYa/anji people from t he research.The senior Ya/anji people's idea of the book was a good one, but it needed to have the support ofall Y%n}i people. The first step in developing the book was taken in late 1999 when I went aroundtalking to Y%nji people in Wujal Wujal, Mossman, and China Camp. Everyone was very enthusiasticabout the book, so long as the rrght cultural protocols were followed to approve rts content. -I he nextstep involved developing a joint submission between Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Community Council,BGmGngG Bubu N gndimunku. the Cape York Land Council and thc Rainforcst Cooperativc RcscGrchCentre (CRC) for funding support from the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT). This submission laid outthe cultural protocols that would be followed.The funding submission was successful and we started the book project in 200 I. The first stage inthe cultural protocol was to invite all Ya/anji people to a big meeting at Cape Tribulation in October200 I. At this meeting a Management Committee of Ya/on)i people was appointed to oversee thewhole project. The Rainforest CRC agreed to provide the book project with an in-kind contributionof my time, and also granted further funding-the CRC's strong support and recognition of theimportance of strengthening Indigenous peoples' knowledge systems was crucial throughout theproject. In addition, the Australian Conservation Foundation supported my continuing involvementin the book as part of my job of Northern Australia Program Coordinator from 2003-ACF's interestand encouragement is greatly appreciated.8

The Management Committee by the CommitteeRoy Gibson, Harold Denman, David Buchanan, Raymond Buchanan, Edward Barney, Reuben Fischer.Ronald Buchanan, Elizabeth Tayley, Lizzie Olbar.Adelaide Baird, Marilyn Wallace, Norman Tayley, EileenWalker. Dawn Walker and Doreen Ball accepted the nominations from the Yalanji meeting to bepart of the Committee. We were not all able to attend all the meetings. Great sadness also cameto our group when Dawn Walker passed away. After a while the Walker family asked Janice Walkerto take her place. Jim Brooks from the Cape York Land Council was a corresponding member.The Management Committee met several times, and made all t he decisions about the book. W e heldmost of our meetings at Cape Tribulation, as the half-way point between Wujal W ujal and Mossman.We took the Committee work very seriously. as getting the book right is important businessfor us. We asked Rosemary to write the first Plain English version, and Steven Nowakowski to bethe photographer. We also appointed Leah Talbot, a Yalan}i woman working at the University, to beour resear-ch assistant. and she helped with all the Committee work. We conducted more field workto get photos and information. The Committee asked the Wujal Wujal Language Group to t r-anslatethe book. Mak Advertising was asked to do the graphic design and Karen Gibson to supply artwork.We mi:lde fomli:1l I1rt!,erlLdLiorr, uf Lire tJr-dfL uuuk Lo public meetings held at Mossman and WujalWujal. and left a mock-up of the book in the communities for all interested people to review.We made a second application to N HT Uointly between the same four organisations) for furtherfunding to print the book. This second submission laid out t he protocols for- use of any funds generatedby selling the book. Everyone agreed that all funds would return to the two Yalan}i organisations,Bamanga Bubu Ngadimunku and Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Community Counci l, to support land andsea management. and language programs. We approved the final version to be printed by Everbest.AbO'YI: Le(t. Flldu wvrk u{ WUJul WUJUI (PI/V!!). R I/'/0Above Right Management Committee members at Cape Tnbulauon. From le(t· Edward Barney. Roy Gibson. Raymond Buchanan.Rosemary Hill. Kathleen Walker, Sleven Nowakowski, Leah Talbot Manlyn Wallace, FranCIS Walkel; Doreen 801/ and Eileen Walker:9

The Translators by the Wuja/ Wuja/ Language GroupFrancis Walker: Eileen Walker: Lily Yougie, Doreen Ball, and Kathleen Walker- started the Wujal WujalLanguage Group with the assistance of the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Community Council andKate Prout in 1998. Our first project was to develop a new version of the Kuku- YafonjiDictionary. Lynette Oakes had published a dictionary back in 1992 but it was hard toget and needed some corrections.We all love working on Yolonji language books. It is hard to see so many of our young peoplenot speaking the language properly. We feel more Y%nji language should be taught at school.We need more materials to help our young people learn language. Y%n)i people are the expertson our language. If we have any doubts about words, or how to spell them, we talk around thecommunity and with the elders.We were very excited to be asked to translate the book. It was a big challenge for us because wehadn't done a whole book before. Francis is the Coordinator for our group. We shared out partsof the book. so our name appear-s beside the sections we each translated. Francis put it all ontothe computer: and kept us all organised l She is on email too, so we were able to email our workto Cairns when it was finished. We are looking forwar-d to doing more Yolon)i books and materialsfor our young people, and the school.The Photographer by Steven NowakowskiI am really excited to be part of this book project. I was asked to take the photographs with avery strict condition that all the photographs belong to the Y%nji people. I believe over timethese images will show future generations, both European and Indigenous, how rich, diverse andimportant traditional knowledge and culture is to this island home we call Australia.I feel very privileged to have had the chance to step inside the Kuku- Y%n)i culture and experiencethe true essence of traditional life. Above all else, my experiences with the Yofonji people havegiven me a new insight into the Australian bush, and what it can provide in terms of food andshelter I have found that the Y%nji people's intimate knowledge of their respective lands to beextraordinary, and I am greatly indebted to have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of this wisdom.As well as my photographs, the book also includes some photos taken by Rosemary Hill, RupertRussell, Suzette Coates and some historical photos collected from the John Oxley Library and theMason Family.10