Kuku Yalanji Country

Kaba Kada, Douglas Shire

Kuku Yalanji Country

The Kuku Yalanji people are the traditional Aboriginal people (bama) of this rainforest area. Their language is a living language and is still spoken by their people today.

The Kuku Yalanji people have a rich cultural identity and strong spiritual connection to the rainforest. Their cultural identity is based on Ngujakura (Dreaming) and is reflected in their living connection to bubu (land) and jalan (sea) and their continued aspiration to conserve and protect country.

For the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people many natural features of the Daintree Coast landscape have spiritual significance including Wundu (Thornton Peak), Manjal Dimbi (Mount Demi), Wurrmbu (The Bluff) and Kulki (Cape Tribulation).

A network of Aboriginal walking tracks linked these cultural sites, camping spots and key places for gathering and preparing food. Many of these original walking tracks have become the roads and bush walking tracks we use today.

Understanding of the weather cycles and the combination of vegetation types allows the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people to gather food throughout the year. When jilngan (mat grass) is in flower, it is time to collect jarruka (orange-footed scrubfowl) eggs and when jun jun (blue ginger) is fruiting, it is time to catch diwan (Australian brush-turkey).

Many tree-dwelling animals were also hunted including murral (tree-kangaroos), yawa (possums) and kambi (flying foxes).

The islands, beaches, creek mouths, backing dunes and lowland rainforest of the Daintree area also provided a major focus for camping and other uses for the Kuku Yalanji. Combined with the fringing reef and sea, a diverse range of resources were available to the Yalanji people on a systematic, seasonal and cultural basis.

Reference: A Handbook for Tour Guides Daintree River to Cape Tribulation. Wet Tropics Management Authority and Daintree Gateway Kuku Yalanji.

Kuku Yalanji Language

This video demonstrates some of the sounds and pronunciations of the Kuku Yalanji language.

Thanks to Tahlia Elish for sharing her wonderful video with us! You can subscribe to her Kukubaka YouTube channel here.

A PDF download of a Kuku-Yalanji dictionary can also be downloaded via the button below.

Kuku-Yalanji dictionary source: https://ausil.org.au

Kuku Yalanji Bush Tucker, Medicine & More

Below are some of the Daintree Rainforest plants used by the Kuku Yalanji for food and other uses.

All
Bush Tucker
Other Uses

Wait a While Daintree Rainforest

Wait-a-while

Calamus australis aka lawyer cane, wait-a-while, or hairy mary. This plant has many Indigenous uses – the older smooth canes are used for weaving, tying & construction. An acidic drink is made by squashing the fruit in water. The thin, outer fleshy layer of the fruit is a traditional bush tucker. Young tips were chewed, to cure stomach upsets. The long flexible spined tendrils were also used to pull witchetty grubs from holes. The cane was later used for making furniture & crab pots.

-Swamp Lily Daintree Rainforest

Swamp Lily

Crinum pedunculatum – Swamp Lily.

Sap from crushing my leaves and stems has been used by Aboriginals in the past as a treatment for marine stingers… I contain the alkaloid lycorine which may be responsible for this effect… though certainly not recommended as a complete cure.

Scaevola Taccada Daintree Coast

Sea Lettuce Tree

I am Scaevola taccada – aka Sea Lettuce Tree. I’m a plant of many uses –

My bitter leaves have been used for indigestion, pith for diarrhoea, poultice of leaves for headaches and on swollen legs and the juice of the fruit has been used to treat many sore eyes. Apparently the ash or saps from the firewood of Scaevola taccada is effective in curing warts.

Alexandra Palm Daintree Coast

Alexandra Palm

Alexandra Palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae). The growing bud (palm heart) at the top of the trunk is edible but not recommended as harvesting it kills the tree. The fruit is also said to have been cooked and eaten by some Aboriginal communities.

This resource will be added to over time.

Daintree Coast Road Updates

Tropical Cyclone Jasper crossed as a Category 2 cyclone 13th Dec 2023. The event caused significant damage to Cape Tribulation Road, Cape Tribulation Bloomfield Road & numerous other sites.

Repairs are well under the way and most roads have access for traffic, some sections have limitations. Visit the Douglas Shire council website for the latest road updates.