Aboriginal artworks, sacred sites and cultural tours abound in south-east Queensland.
Yura Tours explore Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island)
Elisha Kissick of Yura Tours pulls up at the 1.5-hectare Terra Bulla Leumeah conservation reserve on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) where Myora Mission used to stand. Her paternal grandmother was placed here as a child, before being sent to Roma to work as a domestic. “But she never put that generational trauma onto us,” says Kissick. “She knew how to walk in two worlds.”
I’m on the three-hour Ultimate Minjerribah Cultural Experience which starts with a Welcome to Country at the tea-tree tinged Bummiera (Brown Lake) before moving onto other significant sites. Near Mulumba (Point Lookout) we venture into sandy scrubland to sample purple dianella (snake grass) berries, midyim berries and other bush tucker. Though later tempted by many items in the studio of Quandamooka artist Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, I limit myself to a single pair of eugarie (pipi) earrings.
Shorter walking tours and whale watching tours (in season) are also available.
Birrunga Gallery reveals hidden stories
Take the flight of steps from Adelaide Street in the Brisbane (Meanjin) CBD down to Birrunga Gallery and you’ll be immersed in a colourful, cavernous, subterranean wonderland. But aesthetics is the least important aspect of Aboriginal art, says Wiradyuri man Birrunga Wiradyuri, who picked up a brush at the tail end of 2010 and has barely put it down since. Rather, he says, his hands still flecked with the durable resene house paint he uses to create his works, it’s about sharing story. “Any piece that’s any good will carry at least five stories,” he explains.
Birrunga Gallery is an Indigenous owned and operated art gallery and performance and event space which nurtures and supports emerging talent through a cultural creative development program. Visitors can view or purchase original art, prints, artefacts and giftware, and dine on native proteins and ingredients (think burgers made with crocodile, emu or kangaroo) in the licensed café.
BlackCard Cultural Tours visit significant artworks
I’ve strolled past seven study nooks on the fourth floor of the State Library of Queensland many times, but Cassy Saunders of BlackCard Cultural Tours unlocks their real significance. From the mesmerising video of swaying poppies in the Bliss room to the sombre list of Queensland towns which hosted opium dens in the Slow Burn room, Fiona Foley’s Black Opium exposes the shocking history of how this drug was used to enslave Aboriginal people.
There is little to no interpretive signage onsite, which makes the Kurilpa Point and Cultural Precinct Walking Tour all the more illuminating. After exploring other works within the library, we stroll along the bank of the Brisbane River, taking in sculptures and murals. My throat catches when I view stylised silver locks of hair on the underside of a bridge, in reference to the punishment once meted out to Aboriginal girls in a dormitory near here.
BlackCard Cultural Tours run for 90 minutes.
Yarriba Dreaming takes guests on a sensory journey
Led by Bidjara-Ugarapul man Gurruhmun (Kruze Summers) our group picks a path through bushland to a spot beside the Dahgulumba (Logan) River where Aboriginal women used to give birth. Here, in the shadow of Kaiee (Mount Barney), we run our hands over smooth, shallow indentations in boulders that would be filled with dirt and covered by leaves to serve as cradles for newborns. “This is first connection to land,” Summers explains.
Yarriba Dreaming is an immersive, three-day program run in collaboration with Mount Barney Lodge. As the guide for the Scenic Rim’s first Indigenous cultural tour, Summers shares knowledge handed down by his late grandfather, takes participants to culturally significant sites, teaches survival skills such as hunting and shelter-making, and shares stories handed down by his ancestors.
Participants stay on-site in a Queenslander which is comfortable and charming, with all meals provided. Read more about Yarriba Dreaming here.
