Yuwibara facts for kids

The Yuwibara, also known as Yuwi, are an Aboriginal Australian people. They come from the area around Mackay on the east coast of Queensland, Australia.

Traditional Lands of the Yuwibara People

Traditional lands of various Australian Aboriginal tribes around Gladstone.

The Yuwibara people's traditional lands started from Mackay. They stretched for about 2,850 square kilometers (1,100 square miles). Their country went from St. Helens south to Cape Palmerston. Inland, it reached as far as the Connors Range.

Other Aboriginal groups lived near the Yuwibara. The Gia were to their north. The Biri lived northwest of them. The Wiri were to their west, and beyond them were the Barna. To the south were the Barada and, along the coast, the Koinjmal. The Yuwibara mainly lived near the coast in the Pioneer Valley.

History of the Yuwibara

Life Before European Contact

Before Europeans arrived, six main Aboriginal groups lived in the Mackay area. These included the Yuwibara, Wiri, Biria, Jangga, Barna, and Barada. Each group likely had around 500 members. The Yuwibara were considered the most powerful group in the area. They lived in what is now Mackay City, along the coast from St. Helens to Cape Palmerston, and inland to the Connor's Range.

The different groups had clear boundaries marked by natural features. It was very serious if someone entered another group's land without permission.

Special Places for the Yuwibara

What we now call Cape Hillsborough was, and still is, very important to the Yuwibara people.

• It was a major place for hunting and gathering food. You can still see signs of this today. For example, people collected shellfish from the mangroves. They cooked them over fires and left the shells in large piles called middens. Some of these shell piles are up to 500 years old! Other old remains include a stone fish trap, stone fireplaces, pieces of ochre (a natural pigment), and stone axe heads.
• Cape Hillsborough was also important for training young boys. They learned and became men at the stone fish trap.
• The land next to Cape Hillsborough Resort is a burial ground. It holds the remains of Yuwibara people and South Sea Islanders. This makes it a sacred place.

Other important places for the Yuwibara include the Kommo Toera Trail. This is a forest in wetlands where people gathered food. Special ceremonies were also held on the ocean side of Mount Blackwood. This mountain later became a good spot for the Native Police to watch from. Stone fish traps can also be found in many other coastal areas and islands nearby.

The Yuwibara also traded with the Ngaro people who lived on the nearby islands. Billy Moogerah, one of the last Aboriginal people to live in the Whitsunday Islands, used to travel by canoe to trade. He would stop at places like Cape Hillsborough and Freshwater Point. However, Moogerah was forced to leave the islands when the town of Bowen was settled.

European Settlement and Its Impact

British settlers began to move into the Mackay area around 1860. They did not understand or respect the traditional boundaries and hunting rights of the local Aboriginal groups. This meant the Yuwibara and other groups struggled to find their usual food.

When their food sources were gone, the Yuwibara started hunting the settlers' livestock (farm animals). This led to serious and often deadly conflicts.

Local observers at the time believed that about half of the Aboriginal population in the Pioneer Valley was killed between 1850 and 1860. The Native Mounted Police were a major cause of these deaths. They often shot local people during the ongoing conflicts. New diseases brought by the Europeans also caused many deaths.

By 1908, an early researcher named Henry Ling Roth wrote that the Aboriginal people in the Mackay area had lost much of their knowledge about their old laws and customs due to European influence.

Yuwi Language

The Yuwi language is thought to be a dialect of the Biri language. For a long time, it was believed that no one spoke Yuwi anymore. However, since the 2010s, people have been working to bring the language back to life. They are using old records to learn and teach the language again.

Yuwibara Culture

The Yuwibara people still feel a strong spiritual connection to Cape Hillsborough today. Men's ceremonies are still performed along the mangrove boardwalk. Mount Jukes was also a men's ceremonial site. Yuwibara elders still visit it every year. They speak of a large spirit that walks around the camping grounds there.

Traditional Food Sources

Yuwibara women were skilled at hunting freshwater turtles in the wetlands and swamps. The men hunted sea turtles and dugong in the sea grass beds near Cape Hillsborough. The fat from dugong was even mixed with wax to make glue for spears.

Their diet also included fish, mud crabs, snakes, wallabies, and brush turkeys. They ate many different fruits too. These included fruits from the native gardenia and Tanjong tree.

Using Natural Products

The Yuwibara people used many different plants from their land for various purposes:

• The bark of the broad-leafed tea tree (Melaleuca viridiflora) was used to build huts. Its leaves were crushed in water and then drunk as medicine.
• The wood of the hickory wattle (Acacia aulacocarpa) was used to make digging sticks and spears. Its seeds were ground into flour.
• The grass tree was used to make spear shafts and to start fires. Its flowers were used to sweeten drinks.
• The wood of the ghost gum burns well even when wet, so it was often used as firewood. Its sap was used for medicine.
• The fruit of the native cherry was eaten. The wood and bark were burned to keep mosquitoes away.
• The wood of the silver ash (Flindersia schottiana) was used to make tools.
• The fruit of the blue quandong (Elaeocarpus grandis) was eaten. Its seeds were used for decoration, and its large roots were used to make shields and paddles.
• The bark of the milky pine was ground into a powder. This powder was used as a glue to attach feathers to skin for ceremonies.
• The fruit of the cheese fruit was used for medicine. Its roots were used for weaving or as string, and its leaves were used to wrap food for cooking.
• The fruit of the damson was eaten. Other parts of the plant were used to poison fish.
• The fruit of the cluster fig (Ficus racemosa) was edible. Its sap was used to help with diarrhoea.
• The stems of the supple jack were split and used for sewing and fiber. Other parts were used for medicine.

Burial Customs

Early researchers noted that the Yuwibara and other tribes in the Mackay area called a man's spirit meeglo. They even used this word to describe the first white people they met, believing them to be their ancestors.

According to old accounts, when a great warrior died, a long speech would be given over his grave. The body would be held by two men at the edge of the grave. The speaker would talk to the person who had died as if they were still alive and could hear.

For men, burial was often a temporary step. After about three months, the body would be taken out of the ground. The bones were cleaned and wrapped in soft bark. This bundle, called Ngobera, was painted and decorated with beads. It was then kept in the camp with the living family. If a visitor who knew the person came to the camp, the Ngobera would be brought out. The visitor and close family would sit by it, mourn, and cut themselves for a while. Then the Ngobera would be given to the visitor to sleep beside, and returned in the morning. Women and children who died were usually cremated (burned).

The Yuwibara Today

The language and people are usually called Yuwibara today. In 2020, a native title claim was officially recognized under this name.

Caring for the Land

A group called the Traditional Owner Reference Group helps manage natural resources and protect cultural heritage sites in the Mackay Whitsunday Isaac region. This group includes representatives from the Yuwibara, Koinmerburra, Barada Barna, Wiri, Ngaro, and parts of the Gia and Juru people.

Some Yuwibara Words