Three non-profit organisations met in the Daintree Rainforest on Wednesday 27th of April to handover ten properties to the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people for conservation.

The Stronger Together partnership, a collaboration between Rainforest 4 Foundation, Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation, and HalfCut, has collaborated to buy freehold land in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest and return it to Traditional Owners.

Eastern Kuku Yalanji woman and chair of Jabalbina Yalanji Corporation Michelle Friday-Mooka said the partnership was unique in Australia.

We are the only formalised, non-government program which purchases land for conservation to be owned and managed by its Traditional Owners,” she said.

“Reconciliation means working together to correct the legacy of past injustices.

“Let us recognise the past injustices to Eastern Kuku Yalanji Bama (people), Bubu (country) and Jalun (sea).”

Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation administers land on behalf of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people, the Traditional Owners of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.

The ten properties handed over today were created through a subdivision in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest that occurred in 1982. They total 25.9 hectares and are undeveloped rainforest. 

Through the partnership, Rainforest 4 Foundation has purchased 21 at-risk rainforest properties in the past two-and-a-half years.

These properties will all be returned to Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation for management by Traditional Owners and inclusion in the Daintree National Park (Cape York Aboriginal Lands).

Rainforest 4 Foundation chief executive Richard Christian said the partnership had achieved significant outcomes.

Mr Christian said six blocks had previously been handed over for conservation.

A Welcome to Kuku Yalanji Country was followed by a Smoking Ceremony

A total of sixteen properties have now been handed over.

The properties handed over in 2022 are:

Traditional Owners

The Eastern Kuku Yalanji (pronounced guh-guh Yel-an-jee) people are the owners of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. Their Bubu (country) runs between the Mowbray River just south of Port Douglas (from Yule Point) and the Annan River in the North (South of Cooktown) running West to the Great Dividing Range spreading out towards Lakeland Downs.

The Rainforest 4 Foundation, HalfCut, and the Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation are working together to see freehold land in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest purchased and then protected through its management by the Eastern Kuku Yalanji in the national park estate. 

The partnership feeds into a much larger program of land transfer, ownership, and management.

Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation and the Eastern Kuku Yalanji negotiated with the Queensland state government on agreements to jointly manage the Daintree National Park through the Cape York Peninsula Tenure Resolution Program.

The Cape York Peninsula Tenure Resolution Program resulted in the Daintree National Park being handed over to the ownership of Eastern Yalanjiwarra in September 2021. In total 162,000 hectares were handed over and the Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation is now managing the Daintree, Ngalba Bulal, Hope Islands, and Black Mountain national parks. Please read more here. 

Since commencing in 2008, the Cape York Peninsula Tenure Resolution Program has handed back almost 3.5 million hectares of land to Aboriginal Corporations or Land Trusts and there are now 26 jointly managed National Parks on Cape York Peninsula.