Rainforest 4 Foundation and the Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation are working together to ensure land purchased for conservation is protected in the Daintree National Park and will be managed by the Traditional Owners. 

Kuku Yalanji Traditional Owners with Kelvin Davies at Lot 305 Cypress Road in Cow Bay

The Eastern Kuku Yalanji (pronounced guh-guh Yel-an-jee) people are the true owners of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest as they have never ceded sovereignty. 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 Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation and Rainforest 4 Foundation are working together to see freehold land in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest protected in the national park where it will be managed by the Traditional Owners, the Eastern Kuku Yalanji. In August 2019 Lot 107 Buchanan Creek Road was purchased and Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation is managing the transfer of the property into the Daintree National Park. Rainforest 4 Foundation is purchasing additional freehold land and thanks to the generosity of our donor's multiple properties have been purchase or are under contract for settlement in the coming months. In February 2020 Kelvin Davies of the Rainforest 4 Foundation met with the Jalunji clan of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji resulting in an agreement to continue the partnership. This will result in Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation managing the transfer of five additional properties to the Daintree National Park. 

How are the Traditional Owners involved?

The Indigenous peoples on Cape York Peninsula and the Queensland Government are negotiating the ownership and management of national parks. Since commencing in 2008, the Cape York Peninsula Tenure Resolution Program has handed back almost 3.5 million hectares of land to an Aboriginal Corporation or Land Trust and there are now 26 jointly managed national parks on Cape York Peninsula. Discussions with Eastern Kuku Yalanji Bama commenced in 2017.

Key features of jointly managed national parks include:

• National park land is owned by an Aboriginal land holding entity (either an Aboriginal Corporation or Land Trust).
• Decisions about park management are made jointly by the Aboriginal land holding entity and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS).
• Work on the park is undertaken by the Aboriginal land holding entity in partnership with QPWS.

The Cape York Peninsula Tenure Resolution Program will result in the Eastern Kuku Yalanji and Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation managing the Daintree National Park in the future. The Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation has added additional information on the Cape York Peninsula Tenure Resolution Program here. 

The Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation represents the Eastern Kuku Yalanji Bama (people) in the management of land (Bubu). Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation and the Rainforest 4 Foundation have a partnership agreement to purchase and protect land in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation has an established relationship with the Queensland Government and manages the acquisition of land in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest and the transfer of the title to the Queensland Government for inclusion in the Daintree National Park.

To support the purchase, protection, and management of land by the Traditional Owners please make a donation now online.

The Eastern Kuku Yalanji have a rich cultural identity and strong spiritual connection to Daintree Lowland Rainforest and we support them in Caring for Country.