Gunggandji Rangers Jimmito Harris and Nathan Murgha share the importance of reconnecting youth with Country and culture, to empower the next generation.
Video transcript
Jimmito Harris (Gunggandji Traditional Owner and Senior Ranger)
โHi, my name is Jimmito Harris. We are at Wungu on Gunggandji Country. I’m also Gunggandji and Iโm a senior ranger.โ
Nathan Murgha (Gunggandji Traditional Owner and Ranger)
โHi, my name is Nathan Murgha. I am a Gunggandji man and Iโm a land and sea ranger. Gunggandji Country goes from False Cape out to Green Island over to Fitzroy and down to Russell Heads.โ
Jimmito Harris
โThis is home, this is part of us, this is where we grew up. Whenever we leave this place, you know, we always come back to this place for healing.โ
Nathan Murgha
โIt’s also good for our younger ones, you know, for our kids that are coming through because today’s internet world, you know, it’s slowly killing our culture. A lot of the camps that we’ve been doing lately we’re slowly trying to get our kids back on Country because being culturally connected to the land and having our songline and dance is very important to empowering our young ones.
We never been taught in a room four walls and that’s the competition we have. Who want to go to school when you got this here who want to go to school if you can go and provide for your single mother who has been struggling all her life. You know, who want to go to school if they can go and get some traditional food for their nana and papi. That’s the competition that the education department are faced with.โ
Jimmito Harris
โThat’s why some kids, they don’t like going to school. They want to be out on Country, that’s the way they learn.โ
Nathan Murgha
You know, with Native Title given back to us, the rightful owners of this Country Yarrabah. Then it allows us to put in place what has been slowly drifting away from us and that’s Gunggandji culture. We don’t need anyone telling us what’s best for us, because they did that at the beginning and look what happened.
Now we only make up 3% of this population in this Country, and we pack the prison system 23% because they thought they knew what was best for us. When you look at the youth justice system we make up close to 50% of those who are in the system because they thought they knew what was best for us. But now it is time to stand together, walk as one we call it gumin boori.
The main protocol here is safety and we’ve had in the past people from outside with their buggies, with their four wheelers, they get on our beautiful beaches and put those in risk who are around them.
Yarrabah is a beautiful Country and we want to keep it that way. So for those who want to come and visit Yarrabah we recommend that you come through the Gunggandji Aboriginal Corporation. We have people who knows Country and it’d be best to listen to those who know what they’re talking about.โ