traditional

The Cape Bedford Mission was the first Christian mission on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia. It is the oldest surviving mission in northern Queensland. Guugu Yimithirr (also known as Koko Yindjir, Gugu Yimidhirr, Guguyimidjir) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Hope Vale and the Cooktown area. The language region includes the local government area of the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and the Shire of Cook, particularly the localities of Cape Bedford, Battle Camp and sections of the Normanby River and Annan River.[2] George Schwarz arrived in September 1887 and Wilhelm Poland in 1889. These missionaries and their wives helped stabilize the mission and make it more cohesive. The Polands ran a school at Elim, while Schwarz settled with the young men on a new outstation at Hopevale for agricultural and pastoral work. Poland and Schwarz emphasized teaching in the Guugu Yimidhirr language, and soon some of the mission girls were teaching at the school. In 1890, the Queensland government offered a £200 annual subsidy to the mission on condition that lessons be taught in English. This funding stopped in 1893, leaving Schwarz and Poland to teach the students in their choice of language. In 1900, when a government teacher arrived, English instruction resumed. Due to fluctuations in funding, for about the first 15 years of the mission's existence its residents were at least trilingual. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Bedford_Mission

Sir Donald Charles Cameron, KCMG, DSO, VD (19 November 1879 – 19 November 1960) was an Australian politician and soldier. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives as the Nationalist Party of Australia member for Brisbane from 1919 to 1931 and as the United Australia Party member for Lilley from 1934 to 1937 Born in Brisbane, the son of a grazier, he was educated at Toowoomba Grammar School and Brisbane Grammar School. He served with the Queensland Imperial Bushmen in the Second Boer War and with American forces in China during the Boxer Rebellion. He managed the family property, Kensington Downs, along with his brothers between 1902 and 1914, when he enlisted in World War I. He was shot through the liver and lung at the Battle of Gallipoli, and finished the First World War as a lieutenant colonel in command of the 5th Light Horse Regiment. He was mentioned in despatches, received the Order of the Nile, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George for his war service.[1][2] In 1919 he won the seat of Brisbane for the Nationalist Party of Australia, holding it until he was defeated by the Australian Labor Party in 1931. In 1934 he won the nearby seat of Lilley, but retired in 1937. In 1932 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.[2 During World War II, Cameron was chairman of the New South Wales recruiting committee for the Royal Australian Air Force. He died on 19 November 1960 and was cremated; his ashes were buried in the family cemetery on Home Creek Station. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Charles_Cameron_(politician)

King Plates describes and illustrates a large collection of Aboriginal gorgets, also called king or brass plates. These were presented to perceived 'chiefs', faithful servants, and to the especially courageous, by governors and landholders. In other words, they were given to anyone who helped in some way to ease the white settlers' progress in the new colonies. They had already been used in North America for the same purpose. Source: aiatsis.gov.au/publication/35807

Introduction to King Plates: A History of Aboriginal Gorgets by Jakelin Troy, 1993 In 19th and early 20th century Australia, Aboriginal people who distinguished themselves in the eyes of the non-Aboriginal population were honored with an inscribed metal plaque to hang around the neck. These plaques have been known by many names but were most often called ‘King’, ‘breast’ or ‘brass’ plates. However, in this book they are called ‘gorgets’ because they were made not only for men and not only for people who were seen to be leaders. The name was also chosen because the plaques were modified copies of the gorgets worn as badges of office by infantry officers in Australia until 1832. In spite of the important role Aboriginal gorgets played in the development of social relationships between Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people in colonial Australia, they have not been the subject of any substantial publications. Commentary on the gorgets is extremely sparse. The gorgets are tangible physical links with Aboriginal people who were intimately involved in the colonial history of Australia. The names and affiliations inscribed on the gorgets are particularly important as documentary records of Aboriginal history. Ancestral connections with many contemporary Australians may be established through clues that the inscriptions provide. Source: www.nma.gov.au/explore/features/aboriginal-breastplates/i...

Wanhtharra nyundu! Welcome to our country! Cooktown lies in Guugu Yimithirr country, a tribal nation that stretched from the Annan River, south of Cooktown, to Princess Charlotte Bay in the north. This is one of the Cape’s forty-one tribal nations, each having its distinct language, history, culture, bush foods and bush medicines. The Guugu Yimithirr nation was divided into thirty-two clan (or extended family) areas, with boundaries defined by geographical landmarks. Aboriginal people lived in these small clan groups, looking after their lands, its sacred sites and special story places, just as people now look after their house and family photos. Today Guugu Yimithirr people maintain their strong links with the land and its special places. The word Bama (pronounced Bumma) is widely used throughout Cape York to mean an Aboriginal person, but in Guugu Yimithirr, the word simply means ‘person’ regardless of nationality or race. The Guugu Yimithirr name for Cooktown is Gungardie, after the word gun-gaar – a type of crystal quartz found in the area which was used for cutting the chest skin for initiations. Source: www.cooktownandcapeyork.com/do/history/aboriginalculturec...

Aboriginal body painting or art and personal ornamentation is an ancient tradition that carries deep spiritual significance for the Australian Indigenous People. Their cultural rituals including body painting differ between Aboriginal Tribes and topographic locations. It is related to spiritual matters and is very creative in character. The specific designs and motifs used by the Aboriginals reveal their relationships to their family group, social position, tribe, precise ancestors, totemic fauna, and tracts of land. There are very strict guidelines to how the body painting and adornment is carried out and an Aboriginal person is not allowed to just use any motives or adornment in their transformation. They must follow traditional, respected patterns. The person adorned with the body paint often takes on the spiritual part of their ancestor dancing, immersed in their character. In northwest Queensland, men rub their foreheads with charcoal and paint a white band from either eyebrow down the front of the ear and along the shoulders and arms. White and red bands are painted across the chest and the rest of the body is covered in red. Aboriginals use different items and ways to decorate the body include scars, feathers, shells, teeth, ornaments, face paint, and body paint. Symbols are greatly used and can represent many things about the person who uses it. It is often used to tell a spiritual story. Source: www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/aboriginal-art-library/a...