Gubbi Gubbi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| South East Queensland | |
| Languages | |
| Gubbi Gubbi language |
TheKabi Kabi people, also speltGubbi Gubbi,Gabi Gabi, and other variants, are anAboriginal Australian people native toSouth Eastern Queensland. During theAustralian frontier wars of the 19th century, there were several mass killings of Kabi Kabi people by settlers. They are now classified as one of severalMurri language groups in Queensland. A 2024 determination granted non-exclusivenative title rights over an 365,345-hectare (902,790-acre) area of land and waters on theSunshine Coast.
As is often the case,ethnonyms distinguishing one tribe from another select the word used by any one group for the concept "no", which is the meaning ofkabi/gubi/gabi.[1][2] However,AIATSIS'sAustlang database prefers Gubbi Gubbi.[3]
The nameGubbi Gubbi, as shown in early history books, has been used in recent times interchangeably withKabi Kabi. AIATSIS favoursGubbi Gubbi as for the language, but also gives other spellings and name variants.[4][5] but in recent publications has referred to the people asKabi Kabi.[6] Native title claims have been lodged in the name of Kabi Kabi people by the Kabi Kabi Aboriginal Corporation.[7]
There is a dance group called Gubbi Gubbi Dance Troupe that performs traditional dance[8] andWelcomes to Country.[9]
John Mathew, who lived among them, described the Gubbi Gubbi lands as roughly coextensive with theMary River Basin, though stretching beyond it north to theBurrum River and south along the coast itself.[10] He estimated their territory to cover 8,200 square miles (21,000 km2). According toNorman Tindale, however, the Gubbi Gubbi people were an inland group living in theWide Bay–Burnett area, and their lands extended over 3,700 square miles (9,600 km2) and lay west ofMaryborough. The northern borders ran as far asChilders andHervey Bay. On the south, they approached the headwaters of theMary River andCooroy. Westwards, they reached as far as theCoast Ranges andKilkivan.[11] Gubbi Gubbi country is currently located betweenPumicestone Road, nearCaboolture in the south, through to Childers in the north. Their country was originally rain forest, with cleared areas created by regular firing of the scrub.[11][a]
The neighbouring tribes were theTurrbal to the south, theTaribelang north,Goreng Goreng to their northwest and theWakka Wakka westwards.[12]
There have been a number ofnative title claims by various groups of contemporary Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi people, all through the same representative body, the Southern and Western Queensland Region.[13][14]
Other groups of descendants, using the "Kabi Kabi" spelling of the name, have made a total of six applications for native title, with some earlier ones combined into later ones and one as of 2021[update] still active. The first two, made in 2006, were discontinued, while the third in the same year was dismissed.[14] Claims made in 2013,[15][16] and 2016 were combined, resulting in a sixth claim in 2018, which is still active.[14] This claim covers an area fromRedcliffe, not far north ofBrisbane to aroundIsis Junction, in theBundaberg region,[17] but excluding Maryborough.[18]
In June 2024, theFederal Court under JusticeBerna Collier formally recognised a claim over 365,345 ha (902,790 acres) of land and waters on theSunshine Coast, includingGympie,Noosa,Maroochydore,Caloundra,Bribie Island, andMudjimba Island. The ruling was significant for two reasons: it was the first to have been granted over an urbanised area on theeast coast, and the first occasion on which the right to "take resources from the area for any purpose" was recognised inSouth East Queensland. Former rights have been restricted to "personal, communal, and non-commercial purposes". The decision relates to Part A of the Kabi Kabi people's claim, with two further parts still to be determined.[7] The rights are non-exclusive, meaning that they are subject to state and federal laws, and do not include freehold land. The area includes manysacred and ceremonial sites, includingbora rings, and sites where paintings andaxe-grinding stones exist. The determination makes no difference to residents living within the boundaries of the title, and there is no right to block access to anyone fromcrown land, but that Kabi Kabi people could help to share their cultural heritage, as well as activities such ascultural burning to help care for the environment. TheSunshine Coast Council hopes to increase public access to culturally significant land, and provide educational tools such as signposts and information boards on walking trails.[19][20]
TheDictionary of the Gubbi-Gubbi and Butchulla languages, compiled byJeanie Bell, with assistance from Amanda Seed, was published in 1994. The dictionary includes bothGubbi-Gubbi andButchulla language vocabularies with an English finder-list; sources of words given; and notes on phonology, morphology, and syntax.[21]
During thecolonisation of Queensland, there were particularly bloodyfrontier wars as settlers moved onto land that had been occupied by Aboriginal peoples for millennia.[22][23]
Some Gubbi Gubbi/ Kabi Kabi died in the mass poisoning of upwards of 60 Aboriginal people on theKilcoy run in 1842.[24] A further 50-60 are said to have been killed by food laced with arsenic atWhiteside Station in April 1847.[25] As colonial entrepreneurs pushed into their territory to establish pastoral stations, they together with theButchulla set up a fierce resistance: from 1847 to 1853, 28 squatters and their shepherds were killed.[26]
In June 1849 two youths, the Pegg brothers, were speared on the property while herding sheep.Gregory Blaxland, the 7th son of the eponymous explorer Gregory Blaxland took vengeance, heading a vigilante posse of some 50 squatters and station hands and, atBingera, ambushed a group of 100 sleepingmyalls of the "Gin gin tribe" who are usually identified now as the Gubbi Gubbi.[27] They had feasted on stolen sheep. Marksmen picked off many, even those fleeing by diving into theBurnett River. The slaughter was extensive, and the bones of many of the dead were uncovered on the site many decades later.[28][29][30] Blaxland was in turn killed in a payback action sometime in July–August 1850. His death was revenged in a further large-scaled massacre of tribes in the area.[b]
The escaped convictJames Davis, in addition to dwelling with several other tribes, is said to have lived for a time with Kabi Kabi people.[31]
John Mathew, a clergyman turned anthropologist, also spent five years with them atManumbar and mastered their language. During his time there he met Kabi bushrangerJohnny Campbell, and described their society in a 1910 monograph,Two Representative Tribes of Queensland.[32][33] Mathew also wrote an extensive notebook on the language of the Kabi Kabi people, which is now held inState Library of Queensland.[34] The Kabi Kabi people he grew up with numbered no more than a score by the early 1880s,[35] and by 1906, after they had been forcibly removed to theBarambah reserve (anAboriginal reserve created under theAboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897), he stated that only 3-4 full-blooded members of the group remained among the "remnants".[36][37]
The Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi were divided into severalclans orbora:
| Clan name | Meaning | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Dauwa-bora | Noise of hacking people | North ofMount Bopple |
| Gunda-bora | Cabbage palm people | Mount Bopple |
| Gigar-bora | Sweet people | Widgee |
| Kaiya-bora | Bite people | near Widgee |
| Kunyam-bora | Pine tree people | South of Mount Bopple |
| Kuli-bora | Native bee people | South Burnett |
| Baiyam-bora | Pipe people | Yabba Creek (Imbil)[38] |
| Butyin-bora | unknown | Musket Flat[39] |
| Wityin-bora | unknown | near Maryborough[39] |
| Wanggur-bora | unknown | unknown |
| Kinayin-bora | unknown | unknown[39] |
| Jakalin-bora | unknown | unknown |
The AIATSIS Summit 2022 was held on Kabi Kabi Country...
Honours
In recognition of service to the development of multi-culturalism in Australia and to the preservation of Aboriginal culture and language
Application status: Discontinued
Application status: Discontinued
Registered from 7/08/2013 to 8/02/2019. Application status Pre-combination