Article written by Sera-Lyn Terare.
Jingeri Jimbelungs (Hello friends), this is the greeting of the Yugambeh people, the traditional custodians of the land we call south-east Queensland and the north-east New South Wales, these include Logan City, Gold Coast, Scenic Rim and Tweed City regions. Yugambeh is the language in which our Indigenous ancestors would speak.
As an Indigenous Australian, I respect and acknowledge our rich Indigenous history that much of our country has chosen to supress. There is so much to learn about the people who were here before us. The people who lived off this land more than 100,000 years ago. Before the invasion of the English in the 1800s.
There were several clans throughout living throughout the region, believed to be called Mooburra, Cudgenburra, Birinburra, Mununjali and Migunberri, to name a few examples. These sit between the Tweed and Logan rivers.
Nowadays, the Yugambeh people are celebrated within their communities and most recently, through the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games where their culture was celebrated and witnessed by thousands of spectators and volunteers.
The best way to learn about the culture is to get amongst the events or to visit the Yugambeh Musuem, Language and Heritage Research Centre. Their mission is to record and promote the traditional knowledge of our region, especially the Yugambeh Lanugage which is spoken fluently throughout South East Queensland. The work of the centre is to bring the community together through cultural and educational exhanges and giving future generations the opportunity to love and embrace the language of our ancestors.
The Yugambeh Museum, Language and Heritage Research Centre is inspired by many different elements but the most important is the woman who founded the Museum, Patricia O’Connor. Patricia O’Connor is a Yugambeh Elder who not only found the museum and helped shape it to be what it is today, she helped launch an immersion program that created the first cohort of fluent Yugambeh language speakers that this region has seen in over 50 years. Not only is she involved in the museum, she was also involved in many elements of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, including being one of the Elders to travel to Buckingham Palace for the Queens Baton Relay commencement ceremony. A true inspiration to the Indigenous community.
For anyone who is as interested in Indigenous culture and language, there are resources that you can get your hands on. There is a free Yugambeh app that was created by the museum, you can find it on any apple or android device.
If you would like to visit the museum to learn more about this amazing culture, visit Yugambeh Museum on Facebook for more information.
https://www.facebook.com/yugambehmuseum/ (the link for the hyperlink on “Yugambeh Museum”)
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