Gunggari Word of the Week – UKAMINDIYA – a friendly greeting
Say it like this: Ook-ah-min-dye-ah
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Yumba Gathering & Family Signage Meeting – Community Update
We had a wonderful turnout over the weekend, with more than 50 people coming together to reconnect, share stories, and enjoy each other’s company. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and it was great to see so many families represented.
The Gunggari community came together at the Yumba on Saturday, 28 March 2026, for a well‑attended and culturally significant Elders Gathering. The meeting provided a dedicated space for Elders to share their knowledge, perspectives, and aspirations for the establishment of a Gunggari Elders Council.
Thank you to Grant Sarra for facilitating the meeting and Daen Munn who assisted also.
Throughout the day, Elders engaged in meaningful discussions focused on:
• The role, structure, and responsibilities of a Gunggari Elders Council
• Ensuring Elders’ voices lead the development of this important cultural body
• Strengthening connections across families, Country, and community
• Supporting intergenerational knowledge transfer and cultural continuity
The Gathering marked an important step toward building a culturally grounded, community‑led Elders Council that reflects Gunggari values, history, and collective aspirations.
We acknowledge and thank all Elders and community members who attended and contributed their wisdom. Your leadership continues to guide the future direction of our people.
On Sunday, we held the Yumba Family Signage Meeting, where we agreed that each family will nominate one contact person to help coordinate the next steps for the signage project.
Bottom Yumba: Janelle Lawton will be coordinating the Bottom Yumba families.
Top Yumba: Sue Saunders will be coordinating the Top Yumba families, and she will be sending an email shortly to gather the Family Representatives for that area.
To help keep communication organised, we kindly ask that families use email as the primary contact method, unless a phone call is absolutely necessary. With almost 40 family reps for the Bottom Yumba alone, email helps ensure nothing is missed.
Based on the maps for the Bottom Yumba, we still require representatives for several families. Those who attended the meeting are asked to email Janelle Lawton secretary@gunggaripbc.com.au confirming which family you are representing so we can identify any families still needing follow‑up.
Thank you to Leah Cooper for her amazing food, Leah catered for our whole weekend and everyone agreed the highlight of the weekend was the FOOD!
Thank you again to everyone who attended and contributed to such a positive and productive weekend. We look forward to sharing further updates as the project progresses.
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Powrunna State Forest continues to be a hive of activity, with key updates over the past few months being:
- Another translocation occurred in June 2025. With another 11 northern hairy-nosed wombats being translocated from Epping Forest National Park (scientific) to Powrunna State Forest. This means that 38 wombats have now been translocated to Powrunna State Forest.
- Recent population monitoring has excitingly revealed three Powrunna pouch-young.
- In July, the installation of the wastewater and effluent treatment system at the workshop/base site was completed, and a planned burn was undertaken.
- Tenure actions are progressing to combine all the land associated with the project into the one aggregation and rename the area as Dhuny Yumba (Home of the Wombat) National Park (scientific). The dual name is something that the Steering Committee is exceptionally proud of, and will be the first dual park name within South West Region.
- Newly appointed Gunggari rangers visited the site for the first time in September and were given a tour of the site and provided with an overview of the project to date. A number of the Gunggari rangers also attended QPWS fire crew training in Gatton in September.
- A signage audit to identify the regulatory signage requirements, as well as other park signage has been undertaken.
- NRM work has been undertaken with a focus on macropod surveys and canid detection (presence or absence) using attractant pipes with cameras.
- Glencore have a promotional piece on the project on their website here Northern hairy-nosed wombat program
Photos attached:
- Pouch young.
- Wastewater and effluent treatment system being installed.
- Gunggari rangers and QPWS staff on site in September.
The Gunggari PBC marked two significant events earlier this month. Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday 1 October was followed by the Yumba Reunion on 2 October.
At the AGM, two Directors stepped down. We thank Sue Saunders and Jamie Frid for their time, dedication and service. The Board welcomed new Directors Maud Kearns and Ray Stanley.
The Yumba Reunion was a significant celebration attended by more than 100 Gunggari People and community members who came together to mark the following anniversaries and milestones:
- The 5-yearly coming together of our families who lived on, or whose ancestors lived on, the Mitchell Yumba prior to 1968 when the local council forced these families from their homes and removed them from the property;
- Our successful Consent Determination (CD) in Gunggari People #4 made in 2019. The CD hearing was held in Brisbane because we already had two on-country determinations (Gunggari People #2 in Mitchell and Gunggari People #3 in Amby). This was our first opportunity (due to COVID) to celebrate on-country at the Mitchell Yumba, a property that we, the Gunggari People, were recognised to hold exclusive native title over in the 2019 determination; and
- 10-years of the Gunggari Native Title Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC being a registered native title body corporate.
