31-Oct-2011

SEQ Catchments were joined by Jagera Traditional Owners on the 27th October for an Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Tour with local landholders in the Lockyer Valley.

Landholders were taken to locations of Paradise Road and along Black Duck Creek and were provided with an overview from Jagera Traditional Owners, Carolyn Bonner-Bray and Madonna Thomson, on the history and pre-settlement condition of the area and given a clearer explanation of the existing Cultural Heritage Act.

‘‘Many areas of cultural significance are found on private property and coming together on a tour like this means that we can provide some background on what these sites may have been used for and also clarify any confusion over what action landholders should take under the Cultural Heritage Act’’ she said.

‘‘It is also a great opportunity to share a part of our history with landholders in the area and for us to work together as a community to protect these wonderful heritage sites.’’

Madonna provided information on the spatial distribution, history, culture and language of the Jagera people, although emphasised that much of this information has been lost.

‘‘We have lost a lot of the information that has passed down from our ancestors and it has become very fragmented. Part of sharing information is to be able to piece this puzzle together and build up a picture of where things were in the landscape, with the help of also predictive modeling.’’

SEQ Catchments Traditional Owner and Indigenous Engagement Support Officer, Vanessa Hounsell, said that the tour was a great success.

‘‘This is the first tour of its kind that we have carried out at SEQ Catchments. From the interest we got at this event, we hope to be able to carry out other similar tours within South East Queensland as it provides landholders with invaluable information.’’

‘‘One the participants on the tour was also able to share her photos of her relatives in the 1890’s staging a fight with traditional owners near Laidley – it is always very special when we get landholders sharing this type of information’’.

The Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Tour was funded by the Healthy Country project. The Predictive Landscape and Cultural Environmental Modeling of the Blackfellow Creek Focal Areas, Lockyer Valley was carried out by Michael Strong under the Healthy country project.

SEQ Catchments is a community-based, not-for-profit business that works to protect and restore South East Queensland’s natural environment.

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Further information: Sibel Korhaliller, Communications Officer, 0488 713 340 or skorhaliller@seqcatchments.com.au