The Gunggari People, their society and history
8 The evidence relied on by the applicant includes affidavits of Ethel Munn, Gordon Munn, Lynette Nixon, Bernys Falkner, Reeghan Finlay, Irene Ryder and Wayne Dodd. The evidence of members of the native title claim group about their traditional laws and customs and rights and responsibilities in respect to land and waters is of the highest importance: Sampi v Western Australia [2005] FCA 777 at [48] per French J.
9 The evidence also include four reports prepared by an anthropologist, Dr Natalie Kwok. Those reports are thoroughly researched, detailed and comprehensive.
10 The affidavits and the anthropological reports are important, not only for this case, but as records of the history of the Gunggari People. They deserve to be read in full. For present purposes, I can only provide a brief summary of the evidence before the Court.
11 The Gunggari People are the biological descendants of the following persons:
(a) Jinnegah;
(b) Jimmy and Nelly Flourbag;
(c) Harry Collins;
(d) Old Frog;
(e) Coombra Jack;
(f) Kitty of St George and Maggie of the Moonie;
(g) King Billy Dick;
(h) Maria of Tongy Station;
(i) Harry Rookwood;
(j) Lucy of the Balonne River;
(k) Charlotte Moffatt;
(l) Mary of the Maranoa;
(m) Nellie Walker;
(n) Clifton George;
(o) Mary of Bollon; or
(p) Kate Meathers/Meadows.
12 The ethnographic literature records that there are a number of different recordings of the name "Gunggari", principally Gugari, Gungayi, Gungga, Gugayi, Unggari and Unggay.
13 The evidence establishes that at sovereignty the Gunggari People were a distinct people with a distinct dialect and territory. They were united by a sense of shared affinity, a shared name, dialect, a distinctive set of section names and by possession of a unique corpus of myths, songs, designs and ritual practice.
14 The principle of descent is likely to have been paramount in determining affiliations to country. Members of the landholding group enjoyed primary rights of identity with their country, access and use rights, authority over and responsibility for the land and sites and spiritual affiliation with it.
15 The first European contact with the Aboriginal people of the Maranoa district was by Roderick Mitchell, the Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Liverpool district, in the period from 1844 to 1846. In 1846, Thomas Mitchell, Roderick Mitchell's father, led an expedition which traversed directly through the Gunggari claim area. Mitchell recorded numerous encounters, some friendly and some hostile, with Aboriginal people in the area and recorded that such people occupied the area and asserted territorial interests.
16 The Maranoa district was settled by Europeans from 1847. The settlement of the Maranoa district was met with concerted resistance on the part of the Aboriginal inhabitants, who targeted both the settlers and their livestock. The area to the west of the Maranoa River was settled from about 1861.
17 From the 1860s, the combined effects of direct violence from European settlers and the Native Mounted Police, enforced alienation from water and food resources, environmental degradation and introduced diseases resulted in a decline of the Gunggari population. However, the Gunggari People continued to maintain a strong presence on their country and hosted and participated in ceremonial gatherings up until the early 1900s.
18 Large Aboriginal camps were established on pastoral stations in and around the claim area including Tommo, Tongy, Bonus Downs, Albany Downs and Bindebango. Many of the Gunggari People worked on the stations.
19 The first removals under the Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld) from the Maranoa district occurred in 1901. From 1914 to 1941, many Gunggari were removed to government reserves and missions including Taroom, Purga, Barambah or Cherbourg, Palm Island and Woorabinda. Those who remained on country increasingly converged on the township of Mitchell.
20 By the 1920s and 1930s the Top Yumba, an Aboriginal fringe settlement on the Maranoa River, had come to house a large collection of Gunggari families who had managed to avoid removal. In 1936, after the local council ordered dispersal of the Top Yumba, a new reserve was established downstream on the east side of the river. The site, known as the Bottom Yumba, became the home for many years of a number of Gunggari families.
21 In 1967, the Gunggari community was again forcibly disbanded under Council orders. Nevertheless the people continued to meet on the Yumba and engage socially.
22 Despite the considerable geographic dispersal of the Gunggari People, they have maintained their society.
23 It is evident from the affidavits and Dr Kwok's reports that there has been substantial continuity of Gunggari traditional laws and custom up until the present. For example, the totemic system continues to be significant amongst contemporary Gunggari People, including acknowledgement and adherence to marriage rules. There is continued transmission and retention of cultural knowledge amongst the Gunggari People. Many of the Gunggari recount how their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and other Gunggari elders have taught them stories about Gunggari country and the Gunggari laws. These include creation stories, lessons about the bush and bush foods and proper behaviour.
24 The Gunggari People continue to believe that their ancestor spirits inhabit the country. The spirits of the land are known as Yumbinjurra and they are believed to be all around, are protectors and can be heard if one listens closely enough.
25 The Gunggari People conduct smoking ceremonies in connection with death, as a blessing, and as an initiation rite when entering country, as a cleansing ritual to ward off bad spirits for healing. Some claimants remember their families conducting smoking ceremonies to cleanse new homes of bad spirits and to ward off bad dreams.
26 Gunggari People have knowledge of many sites of significance, such as camp sites, burial sites, battle sites, waterholes and wells, artefact sites and other important places. Such sites are located throughout the claim area and beyond, in places such as Mitchell, Mungallala, Bonus Downs, Tongy, Tomoo, Abieglassie, Woodlands, Dunkeld, Teaswater, Amby, Womblebank, Morven, Albany Downs, Cashmere, Hillsborough, Lussvale, Cytheream, Thirsty Downs, Rockybank, Grassmere and Bindebango.
27 Hunting, fishing and gathering is a part of the Gunggari People's everyday lives. They hunt kangaroo, emu, echidna, sand goanna, ducks and pigeons. They fish for yellow belly cod and jew fish. They gather witchetty grubs, yabbies, mussels and other small animals. In addition, they collect resources such as honey, ochre and other plants.
28 The Gunggari People have a detailed knowledge of the best methods of preparing various types of bush tucker. They practice bush remedies, including using gum leaves for breathing maladies and boiling up supplejack leaves for sore ankles, shins and muscular pains. The umbi umbi bush is boiled to treat ailments such as sickness, sores or as an ointment for massage.
29 The Gunggari People have maintained a continuous presence on their country, despite the pressures of colonisation.
30 The evidence demonstrates that the Gunggari People have held rights and interests in the determination area under their traditional laws and customs since prior to sovereignty and have continued to do so to the present time. They have also continued to exist as a society.