Our Programs
Djabugay Cultural Custodians
The Djabugay Cultural Custodians are the Traditional Owners of Djabugay Bulmba (Country), located in the rainforest region surrounding Kuranda in Far North Queensland. Our role is to protect and preserve our cultural heritage, and to actively share it with our present and emerging Custodians, community, our corporate partners, and visitors from around the world. We walk in the footsteps of our ancestors, guided by Bama Lore, and carry forward the knowledge, stories, and culture that has sustained our people for thousands of years.
NGIRRMA (Language) is the heartbeat of culture. Through our NGIRRMA program, we teach Djabugay language classes weekly, engaging community members and Traditional Owners in revitalizing our ancestral tongue. We also install signage throughout Kuranda that reconnects places, plants, and historical landmarks to their Djabugay names—restoring the language to the landscape and deepening our connection to Country.
We are the living voice of Djabugay heritage. Through education, ceremony, and collaboration, we invite all to walk with us, learn from us, and honour the spirit of our ancestors. Our work ensures that Djabugay culture is not only remembered—but lived, celebrated, and respected.
Djabugay Bulmba Rangers
The Djabugay Bulmba Rangers are a dedicated team of Indigenous land and sea custodians working to protect, restore, and celebrate Djabugay Country (Bulmba). Funded by the Department of Environment and Science through the Queensland Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger Program, the Rangers operate primarily within the Barron Gorge National Park and the broader Kuranda region—an area of immense ecological and cultural significance to the Djabugay people.
The Ranger Program helps keep Country and people healthy. The program combines traditional knowledge with science to achieve environmental, cultural, social, and economic outcomes for our people and community. Rangers engage in a range of activities, including fire management, controlling invasive species, monitoring wildlife, protecting cultural sites, restoration, education, collaboration and engagement and various national, regional and local community programs.
Djabugay culture is deeply woven into the Wet Tropics rainforest, where knowledge is carried through ngirrma (language), story, and the Bulmba (land) itself. Djabugay people are renowned for their distinctive bicornial baskets — expertly woven from lawyer cane and unique to this part of the world. The rainforest Country provides rich bush tucker found nowhere else: black beans, Davidson’s plum, blue quandong, native ginger, and freshwater foods gathered along the Barron River. The Djabugay people are known to have knowledge of treatment of more toxic plant foods than any other group due to the inherent toxicity of the plants in our region.