Looking at Country through Kungarakan eyes
Paperbark People
Year 9 History
Excursion Student Companion
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WELCOME
Welcome to the Territory Wildlife Park. You are standing on the traditional country of the
Kungarakan and Warray Aboriginal language groups.
In this student companion, you will find a series of activities to do along the Paperbark Walk
as you begin to see this Country through the eyes of its’ Kungarakan inhabitants; Paperbark
People.
PLAN YOUR DAY
Ensure you have insect repellent, water, a pencil, clipboard, eraser and camera
Plan completing this student companion (approx. 1 hour), in groups of 5-10, with
your supervising adult, around the scheduled presentations
Use this student companion to gather all of the information you will need to develop
and deliver a story looking at the Paperbark Forest through Kungarakan eyes
When you are ready to complete your student companion catch the train to Goose
Lagoon Station. Read page 2-3 while you wait.
IDENTITY
Image: ACARA
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ identity comes from the interconnected
aspects of Country, People and Culture. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories are
part of the shared history belonging to all Australians.
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MAP: TERRITORY WILDLIFE PARK
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Showing Paperbark Walk
KUNGARAKAN LANGUAGE
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies have many language groups. Language is the
voice of the land and one of the foundations of identity. (OI.4)
Kemek ngi-yengah! is a Kungarakan greeting that translates to ‘you are standing well?’ The
Kungarakan language comes to a baby through their mother then further teaching come
from other family members, in particular, a girls’ aunts and a boys’ fathers, grandfathers
and uncles. Language is taught while you are walking on Country, living it in different
situations: hunting, looking for and gathering vegetable foods, being taught the rules
(looking, being quiet, standing still, staying with the group etc), while gathering wood,
lighting the fire and so on. Language and land go together! The animals understand the
language of Country.
Kungarakan was spoken and passed on orally for tens of thousands of years. One of the
many profound effects of colonisation has been language loss. International endangered
language funds are being sought to strengthen and revive Kungarakan. Sounds exist in
Kungarakan that do not exist in English and a few family members have compiled word lists
to safeguard linguicide (language death). Spelling systems vary because they have used
different combinations of Roman letters to represent Kungarakan sounds, spelling systems
vary.
What does your language mean to you? How would you feel if you went to school one day
and were told you were no longer permitted to speak your first language but had to learn to
learn and communicate in a new and foreign language?
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WORDS OF THE PAPERBARK COUNTRY
Kungarakan
kurdem karring kaya
nadikul
mapulbak*
kunju
tjudah
tjumul
lok
Ku piy-piy
mundjulk
mukanangganuk
English
cloud approaching
Magpie Goose
Creation time
Earth / Country
Paperbark Tree
ground oven
home land
birds (piy=feather)
waterlily
waterlily root
* the first appearance of all that is on, in, under or above the land; includes people, laws and
customs. A time before anything was known about life and land; stories about the activities
of the first ancestors as they moved through Country; these significant acts left their mark
on the land, such sites are revered as sacred; stories are recorded in song and kept safe by a
Songman for the benefit of his tribe; the whole landscape contains a visible history of its
people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have unique belief systems and are
spiritually connected to the land, sea, sky and waterways. (OI.3)
Have a think about what is sacred to you. Is it faith, is it a person, a place, a time or a
memory? Is it a plant, animal, object or a piece of music? This landscape is sacred to
Kungarakan, every part of the topography has a name and a totemic association that goes
back to the beginning of time.
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Nadikul (Magpie Goose) start arriving when kurdem karring kaya around September to
December. Their eggs are good food and you cook them under the ash by the fire. Many
people say the best way to cook Nadikul is straight on the fire. Kungarakan have mapulbak
about the origins of this bird.
Walk left at the ‘Welcome to Goose Lagoon’ sign
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KUNJU (EARTH / COUNTRY)
Read the Dry Woodland Sign and look at the kunju around you
Walk to the Grevillea / Banksia Woodland sign. See if you can identify the plants
around you from the pictures on the sign
Sketch the two types of kunju
Dry Woodland Sketch
Grevillea / Banksia Woodland Sketch
Describe what is similar and what is different
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TJUDAH (PAPERBARK TREE)
As you walk along the boardwalk, feel and look closely at the Tjudah
What does it feel like?
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ ways of life are uniquely expressed through
ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing. (OI.5)
Tjudah is very important to Kungarakan: spiritually, ancestrally, medicinally, culturally and
practically. Its bark can be used to make wanan (a waterproof camp), a canoe, a plate, a
wrap for babies, a paint pallet and to hold flavours and moisture in food when cooking in a
tjumul.
A tjumul can be used for cooking large quantities of food; a hole is dug and fire lit within it,
flat river-stones are placed upon the hot coals to heat through, green leaves and damp bark
are added then the food wrapped in leaves and damp tjudah, another layer of rocks and hot
coals and a final covering of leaves and tjudah. It is sealed with earth, stamped down and
left for a few hours to cook.
Kungarakan people are ‘Paperbark People’. Look around you! This is the Kungarakan
supermarket, pharmacy, hardware shop, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and playground.
Immerse yourself in Paperbark Country - find a spot to sit, close your eyes and listen.
How does it feel?
What can you hear?
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KU PIY-PIY (BIRDS)
Ku piy-piy are messengers and teachers for Kungarakan. They tell you what is going on with
the season, what plants are seeding or fruiting; show you where to find water; teach you
how to sing, dance, paint up and be pretty; warn you when strangers are approaching,
notify you when there is a birth or a death; and sometimes just entertain you with their
singing and antics.
Find a space in the bird hide and using the table below tick off those birds you have
identified in the lagoon.
English
Kungarakan
English
Kungarakan
Brolga
komkarnal
Plumed Whistling Duck
tjirrbiyuk
Magpie Goose
nadikul
Black-necked Stork
karndil
Eastern Great Egret
Intermediate Egret
Pied Heron
wetji
Darter
memeh
(uncle)
kalk kalk kalk kamili
Rainbow Bee Eater
Australian Pelican
kolnom
(ngirrang – dad)
Mookmooloo pongoh
(tail straight like a tree trunk)
karrakan
Green Pygmy-Goose
larrawah
Yellow-billed Spoonbill
petju ngangarr wim puli
(yellow spoon beak)
wit ngangarr wim puli
(black spoon beak)
Blue-winged
Kookaburra
Little Pied Cormorant
Straw-necked Ibis
Sacred Ibis
kowarlang
(bunji – brother in law)
ngangarr-manampiy
(mouth+sip)
ngangarr-manampiy
(mouth+sip)
Royal Spoonbill
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Choose one bird that you can see well, watch it for a few minutes and record the
behaviours that you observe
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LOK (HOME)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ have lived in Australia for tens of thousands
of years and experiences can be viewed through historical, social and political lenses. (OI.6)
Lok means ‘home’, Kungarakan use this word when describing different kinds of places and
sites.
For tens of thousands of years this Paperbark Country has provided Kungarakan people with
everything they need: food, water, shelter, space, air, safety, comfort, spirituality and each
other.
Where and when do feel most at home?
When you think of home do you think of one place or many?
Is home for you in the present or the past?
What do you call your home?
What other words can you think of that best describe the feeling of home?
warm, familiar, safe, comfortable,
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FOOD
The Paperbark Forest is a supermarket for Kungarakan. Different plants provide edible
seeds, flowers, fruits, galls, roots and tubers at different times of the year.
Can you see any waterlilies on the lagoon?
mundjulk (waterlily) stems and seedpods are eaten raw
mukanangganuk (waterlily root) are cooked, peeled then eaten
Photograph or draw a waterlily
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GROUP STORYTELLING
Storytelling is the art of painting pictures with your tongue. Everyone everywhere enjoys a
good story: it is the most powerful form of human communication and therefore a cultural
universal. The story reflects a basic and powerful form in which we make sense of the world
and our experiences in it. A story is memorable as our minds process the information
factually, visually and emotionally.
Kungarakan have been passing on mapulbak and other history and survival
information for tens of thousands of years. Different individuals are responsible for
remembering and teaching pieces of the story. Neighbouring language groups also hold
parts of bigger stories that connect together. Many of these Storylines traverse the whole
continent.
Get together with a group of two or three friends and write a one page group story.
Imagine you are Kungarakan siblings walking through your tjuda home, in the past or
the present. What can you see? What are you doing? How does it feel? Each person is to
take responsibility for creating, writing, remembering and telling part of the story.
Tip: rhythm, rhyme and repetition in a story can make it more memorable.
After dinner present your story to the class orally. Each person tells only their bit of the
story. Make a recording of this version. Repeat this for three consecutive days then on the
fourth day ask one of your classmates to repeat it back to you and record this version.
Compare the two versions of the story, what is the same and what is different about the
story? Are there words or phrases you could change to make your story more memorable?
Use this space to write your story
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Use this space to write your story
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ACTION YOU CAN TAKE
Begin a conversation with members of your local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
families. Start by visiting your local Culture Centre or Land Council office. Ask if there are any
celebrations coming up that you could be involved in, like NAIDOC Week.
Show respect and learn by listening more than you speak! Nginyigah tep-kini (sit down),
mutji-meh (shhh) and tjel wirri (listen)
Learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions and people past and present.
There are some links on the next page to get you started.
Respect artefacts and sacred places by being quiet, adhere to warnings on signs (if there are
any) or feelings you get ‘in your gut’ (because that was where you were joined to your
mother). Leave places as you found them.
Speak up! Promote inclusion in your family, school and community.
We wish you well on your learning journey
Enjoy the rest of your visit
MAMAK! (farewell)
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GET INFORMED
Kungarakan Culture & Education Association http://www.kungarakan.org.au
Alngindabu (Kungarakan ancestor) 1874-1961 http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/alngindabu-9345
UN Rights of Indigenous People http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
Reconciliation Australia http://www.reconciliation.org.au/
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies http://aiatsis.gov.au/main.html
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander language map
http://www.abc.net.au/indigenous/map/default.htm
Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority http://www.aapant.org.au/
Closing the Gap http://www.indigenous.gov.au/
The Koori Mail newspaper http://koorimail.com/
Australian Aboriginal Book Shop http://iadpress.com/
Indigenous People, Issues and Resources http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/
National Congress of Australia’s first people http://nationalcongress.com.au/
PARTICIPATE & CONNECT
National Reconciliation Week http://www.reconciliation.org.au/nrw/
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Festivals
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/arts/aboriginal-cultural-festivals#toc0
NAIDOC Week http://www.naidoc.org.au/
Mabo Day http://maboday.com.au/
Harmony Day http://www.harmony.gov.au/
JOIN & SPEAK UP
Recognise campaign http://www.recognise.org.au/
Racism - it stops with me campaign http://itstopswithme.humanrights.gov.au/
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This language and culture knowledge has been gathered from multiple first person sources
and belongs to Kungarakan people. Please reference this document as:
Kungarakan & Territory Wildlife Park (2014) Paperbark People: Looking at Country through Kungarakan eyes.
Year 9 Student Excursion Companion.
FIND OTHER GREAT LINKS & SHARE
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