All of the Great Barrier Reef is ÒSea CountryÓ to different Indigenous people along the coast. Pelican1 will be travelling through this different Sea Country. And you can learn about some of the Indigenous knowledge intrinsic to the region.

Norma Sarra and Muriel Broome came down to the boat in Bundaberg to give a special send off and well wishes for the project. Norma and Muriel are sisters and are descendants of the Bunda people. The Bunda people are the traditional people of the Bundaberg area and from where the town derives its name.

Norma and Muriel gave a case of Bundaberg Ginger Beer to the Pelican group and Norma gave a speech wishing everyone a safe journey and successful project. Norma said afterwards that she felt good to be amongst young people who were following a dream. The Pelican people were very pleased to accept the good wishes and feel that we could not have had a better send off. Thank you to Norma and Muriel for coming down to wish everyone on Pelican well and also to Tina Mclellan for helping to arrange the send off.

Link to traditional owners of the Great Barrier Reef

Download the pdf 'Sea Country - Indigenous Issues of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park No. 11'

Link to Reef Beat 2003 È Activities È Indigenous relationships with the reef


Muriel Broome and Norma Sarra giving Pelican a blessing before leaving Bundaberg! Click on photo for enlargement.


Muriel Broome, Norma Sarra and Garry McKechnie.


Dugongs appear in the art and stories of many northern coastal Aboriginal and Islander communities.

Cultural Centre Visit
21/03/06

While Pelican1 was in Townsville we were invited to the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Centre and given a guided tour through the exhibit by Venessa. All the trainees came along and enjoyed Venessa's talk, sharing her knowledge of the exhibits, Indigenous history, contemporary life and her own stories.


Adelina, Matty, Lwayne,Pedar, Ewan and Venessa.

Welcome Ceremony and Dancing in Townsville 21/03/06


Virginia Wyles is an elder of the local Wulgurukaba people. She welcomes us to their country, wishes us luck and introduces two performers from Wulgurukabah Walkabout Dancers led by Ashley Salter who perform several dances for us.