Kuku Yalanji

Kuku Yalanji people are indigenous in Australia, originating from the rainforest regions of Far North Queensland and speaking the language Kuku Yalanji; also spelt Gugu Yalanji and here Guugu Yalandji as variants in English transliteration spellings. Guugu Yalandji language connects together their law, various dialects, clans and many communities. They also constitute one of the "Bama Rainforest Peoples". Kuku Yalanji live in coastal, riverine, and mountainous regions, their clan estates extending from Port Douglas in the south through to Cooktown in the north and to Chillagoe in the west. It is thought that there were three to five clans of Kuku Yalanji in 1770 prior to contact by Europeans, their diseases and colonisation.

Survival was dependent on exploitation of seasonal variation. It is believed that Kuku Yalanji lived in the rainforest region no later than 4,000 years ago. It is known that they had high population density, lived in semi-permanent huts, prepared and ate toxic species from the rainforest and produced and used distinct weaponry such as wooden shields and swords. They existed in a complex and social hunter-gatherer type society. They are defined from other groups by single language.

They saw the landscape as humanised describing it in human terms and recognising spirits within landscape features. They defined seasonal variations into five seasons.

1877 saw contact between European colonists and Kuku Yalanji through the discovery of gold, mineral exploration and the development of a coastal road. Contact between the groups was violent. By 1890, the people were decimated. From 1897 to the 1960s, the Kuku Yalanji like other Aboriginal peoples faced the Government's paternalistic legislation that allowed for Aborigines to be placed under "protection" in attempt to preserve their culture. The Kuku Yalanji began concentrating around the Mossman Reserve around the time of World War II and the people in the Daintree region were forced to the northern bank of the Daintree River. They were further subjected to more relocations by the government.

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