Jumbun, Queensland

Jumbun is an Aboriginal community located in the Cardwell Shire at Murray Upper which is 40 kilometres south-west of Tully in North Queensland, Australia. The word "jumbun" means "wood-grub" in Girrimay. The residents of Jumbun are predominantly from the Girrimay and Jirrbal Aboriginal tribes. The population of Jumbun is about 160 people. [O'Rourke, T. & Memmott, P. (2007). Constructing cultural tourism opportunities in the Queensland wet tropics: Dyirbalngan campsites and dwellings. In J. Buultjens & D. Fuller (Eds.), "Striving for Sustainability: Case studies in Indigenous tourism". Lismore: Southern Cross University Press (pp. 371-402). ]

The Jumbun Aboriginal community is famous for its basket weavers who have retained the cultural knowledge for making the distinctive lawyercane bicornal basket styles including burrajingal, gundala and mindi. In recent times, these baskets were used for both everyday and ceremonial uses including carrying bush foods, babies, message sticks and ceremonial objects. The jawun style of bicornal basket is unique to the rainforest Aboriginal peoples of North Queensland. Other unique lawyercane artefacts include the wungarr, which was used in freshwater creeks to catch eels. [Queensland Art Gallery. (2003). "Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest" Queensland Art Gallery. Brisbane, p.182 ]

Examples of the jawun and other basket weaving styles are regularly shown in national exhibitions and older examples are kept in special "keeping places" which house important cultural artefacts. A "keeping place" has been built at Jumbun while the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation in Cardwell also has another (Davey "Buckeroo" Lawrence Education, Training and Cultural Centre on the Bruce Highway, 235 Victoria St Cardwell). [ Girringun Arts. [http://www.girringun.com.au Girringun Aboriginal Corporation Website] . Accessed on 3 March 2008]

Jumbun has recently relaunched its cultural tours. These tours include an inspection of the Keeping Place before a cultural walk into the rainforest is undertaken to showcase the practical knowledge of plants and animals in the forest. Opportunities for basket weaving and traditional jewellery making with women from the community is a highlight of the tour, as well as the serenity of the Moombay campsite where the tour takes place, with the gentle sounds of birdsong and the Murray River making for a stunning backdrop for a unique cultural experience. [ [http://www.jumbunaboriginaltourism.com.au Jumbun Aboriginal Community Tourism Website] Accessed 2 March 2008]

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