Jebribillum Bora Park facts for kids

The Jebribillum Bora Park is a special place in Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia. It's found on the corner of the Gold Coast Highway and 6th Avenue. This park is very important because it holds one of the last complete bora rings on the Gold Coast. A bora ring is a sacred meeting place for Indigenous people. This special site is protected by law. The park also has the first Queensland War Memorial made just for Indigenous service men and women. This memorial is also protected.

The Bora Ring: A Sacred Place

A bora ring is a very old and important place where Indigenous people held special ceremonies and meetings. The bora ring at Jebribillum Park has a long history of being saved from harm.

Saving the Bora Ring

John Appel, whose grandfather was a missionary, helped a lot to protect the bora ring. In 1913, the Nerang Shire Council officially set aside the land as a reserve. This stopped it from being divided into building blocks for houses.

Even after that, people tried to destroy the bora ring in 1929 and 1941, but it survived. There were also ideas to build a sports field or a cattle yard there, but these plans didn't happen. However, the Returned and Services League of Australia was allowed to build a small hall next to the bora ring, and they did.

By the 1950s, the fence around the bora ring was falling apart. The Lands Department even said that not much was left of the site.

Protecting the Site

In 1954, two groups, the Queensland Naturalists' Club and the Queensland Anthropological Society, disagreed with the Lands Department. They told newspapers that the bora ring was actually in good condition. They worked hard to convince the local government, who looked after the site, to protect this very important place. Their efforts worked, and the local government agreed to keep the site safe.

Restoring the Ring

In 1962, the Burleigh Heads Lions Club helped to fix up the bora ring. They built a new entrance gate and a protective fence decorated with boomerangs around the site. They also placed a memorial stone in the middle of the ring.

When the twelve-month project was finished, a special ceremony took place. Thirty-five Indigenous people traveled from Cherbourg and performed five corroborees. After this, the bora ring was given back to the Gold Coast City Council to be looked after and preserved.

The Bora Memorial Rock

The Bora Memorial Rock was placed next to the bora ring in 1991. It is very special to the Yugambeh people. This rock honors Indigenous men and women who served in Australian wars between 1914 and 1991.

The large rock for the memorial came from Tambourine Mountain. The artwork on the rock shows tribal totems. It was designed and painted by Marshall Bell using local ochre. He worked with the Kombumerri Aboriginal Corporation to create the design.