The Gubbi Gubbi people also known as Kabi Kabi are an
Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Is ...
people native to south-eastern Queensland. They are now classified as one of several
Murri language groups in Queensland.
Naming
As is often the case,
ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
s distinguishing one tribe from another select the word used by any one group for the concept 'no', which is the meaning of ''kabi/gubi/gabi''. However,
AIATSIS
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...
's
Austlang
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...
database prefers Gubbi Gubbi,
There is a disagreement both about the name and which group(s) represent the nation or peoples known as Gubbi Gubbi or Kabi Kabi.
Country
John Mathew, who lived among them, described the Gubbi Gubbi lands as roughly coextensive with the
Mary River Basin, though stretching beyond it north to the
Burrum River and south along the coast itself. He estimated their territory to cover . According to
Norman Tindale
Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist.
Life
Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived the ...
, however, the Gubbi Gubbi people were an inland group living in the
Wide Bay–Burnett area, and their lands extended over and lay west of
Maryborough. The northern borders ran as far as
Childers and
Hervey Bay
Hervey Bay () is a city on the coast of the Fraser Coast Region of Queensland, Australia. The city is situated approximately or 3½ hours' highway drive north of the state capital, Brisbane. It is located on the bay of the same name open to ...
. On the south, they approached the headwaters of the
Mary River and
Cooroy. Westwards, they reached as far as the
Coast Ranges
The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although the ...
and
Kilkivan. Gubbi Gubbi country is currently located between
Pumicestone Road, near
Caboolture
Caboolture () is a town and suburb in Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Caboolture had a population of 26,433 people. It is located on the north side of the Caboolture River, which separates the town from Mora ...
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.
The neighbouring tribes were the
Turrbal to the south, the
Taribelang north,
Goreng Goreng to their northwest and the
Wakka Wakka
Wakka Wakka, or Waka Waka, people are an Aboriginal Australian community of the state of Queensland.
Name
"''Wakka''" was assigned the meaning "no" by Western linguists who documented the Wakawaka language. Ethnonyms based on the duplication ...
westwards.
Language
The language of the Gubbi Gubbi can be foun
here. The Dictionary of the Gubbi-Gubbi and Butchulla languages / compiled by Jeanie Bell, with assistance from Amanda Seed.
The Dictionary has been available since 1994 with both Gubbi-Gubbi and Butchulla vocabularies with English finder-list; sources of words given; notes on phonology, morphology and syntax.
Some say the name was taken from the pale honey gathered from the eucalypts of the hinterland.
History of contact
Some Gubbi Gubbi/ Kabi Kabi died in the mass poisoning of upwards of 60 Aboriginal on the
Kilcoy run in 1842. A further 50-60 are said to have been killed by food laced with arsenic at
Whiteside Station in April 1847. As colonial entrepreneurs pushed into their territory to establish pastoral stations, they together with the
Butchulla set up a fierce resistance: from 1847 to 1853, 28 squatters and their shepherds were killed. 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, at
Bingera, ambushed a group of 100 sleeping
myall Myalls are any of a group of closely related and very similar species of '' Acacia'':
* '' Acacia binervia'', commonly known as coast myall;
* '' A. papyrocarpa'', commonly known as western myall;
** a weeping form of the species, commonly know ...
s of the "Gin gin tribe" who are usually identified now as the Gubbi Gubbi. They had feasted on stolen sheep. Marksmen picked off many, even those fleeing by diving into the
Burnett River
The Burnett River is a river located in the Wide Bay–Burnett and Central Queensland regions of Queensland, Australia.
Course and features
The Burnett River rises in the Burnett Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, close to Mount Gaet ...
. The slaughter was extensive, and the bones of many of the dead were uncovered on the site many decades later. 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.
The escaped convict James Davis, in addition to dwelling with several other tribes, is said to have lived for a time with the Kabi Kabi.
John Mathew, a clergyman turned anthropologist, also spent five years with them at
Manumbar and mastered their language. He described their society in a 1910 monograph, ''Two Representative Tribes of Queensland''. The Kabi Kabi people he grew up with numbered no more than a score by the early 1880s, and by 1906, after they had been forcibly removed to the
Barambah reserve, (an
Aboriginal reserve
An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ce ...
created under the ''
'' ), he stated that only 3-4 full-blooded members of the group remained among the 'remnants'.
Culture and people
Gubbi Gubbi people �
their official name- shown in early history books, articles and present day (2021) land claims. Kabi Kabi is also used by many and claims respectfully acknowledge both Gubbi Gubbi and Kabi Kabi.
Social organisation
The Gubbi Gubbi were divided into several
clans or ''bora'':
Native title claims
There has been a number of
native title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...
claims by various groups of contemporary Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi people, all through the same representative body, the Southern and Western Queensland Region.
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 still active. The first two, made in 2006, were discontinued, while the third in the same year was dismissed. Claims made in 2013, and 2016 were combined, resulting in a sixth claim in 2018, which is still active. This claim covers an area from
Redcliffe, not far north of
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the Sou ...
to around
Isis Junction, in the
Bundaberg
Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The ...
region, but excluding Maryborough.
Some words
* ''kavai'' (small stingless
light-grey native bee).
* ''killa'' (small stingless
dark native bee)
* ''mothar''/''dhi'' (whiteman)
* ''mular'' (ceremonial scars)
* (''n'')''a'von'' (mother)
* ''pa'bun'' (father)
* ''widha karum'' (wild dog)
* ''wiyidha/widha'' (tame dog)
* ''wunya'' (greeting)
Notable people
*
Arthur Beetson
Arthur Henry "Artie" Beetson OAM (21 January 1945 – 1 December 2011 ,
Queensland Rugby League
The Queensland Rugby Football League QRL Constitution, 2009: 3 (QRL QRL Constitution, 2009: 2) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL Commission) and selects the memb ...
player and former Australian captain
*
Tahj Minniecon,
Soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
player who has played for Brisbane Roar, Gold Coast United and Western Sydney Wanderers
*
Eve Fesl ,
former champion
discus thrower
The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...
of
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seyche ...
and Queensland, and the first
Koori to receive a
PhD from an Australian university in 1990. She is a member of both the Gubbi Gubbi and
Gungulu nations.
*
Lance McCallum, Member of the
Legislative Assembly of Queensland
The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...
for the Electoral District of
Bundamba, who mentioned his heritage during his inaugural speech on 19 May 2020.
Notes
Citations
Honours
Sources
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External links
Gubbi Gubbi Dyungungoo*
{{Authority control
Aboriginal peoples of Queensland
South East Queensland
Kabi Kabi