Yuibera

Updated on Nov 29, 2023

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The Yuibera (also known as Juipera or Yuwibara) are an Indigenous Australian people, originating from Mackay, Queensland, Australia.

Warning. The following article contains the names of Aboriginal people now deceased.

Prior to European Contact

In Mackay and its surrounding areas, six peoples have been identified, including the Juipera, Wiri, Biria, Jangga, Barna and Barada, of which each group is estimated to have consisted of 500 members. The Juipera people are said to have been the most dominant group in the area, occupying what is now Mackay City, the coast from St. Helens to Cape Palmerston and further inland to the Connor's Range. Boundaries were marked by natural features and punishment for incurring on other groups' territories was severe.

What is now known as Cape Hillsborough was and remains of particular significance for the Juipera people. Firstly, it was a hunting and gathering ground for food, which is still apparent in archeological remains today. For instance, shellfish were collected from the mangroves, roasted over fires and the shells were discarded in piles over the course of many years, forming middens; the oldest of which are up to 500 years old. Other remains include a stone fish trap, stone fire places, pieces of ochre from other areas as well as stone axe heads. Secondly, Cape Hillsborough is significant because boys were trained and initiated into manhood at the stone fish trap. Thirdly, the ground adjacent to Cape Hillsborough Resort is a burial ground, not only for the Yuibera, but also for South Sea Islanders, and is thus sacred ground.

Other locations of significance to the Juipera people include, for instance, the Kommo Toera Trail; a Melaleuca forest located in wetlands where food was gathered. Special ceremonies are also said to have been performed on the ocean-side of Mount Blackwood, which would later be a vantage point for spotting the Native Police. Stone fish traps can also be found at Slade Point, Reliance Creek, Ball Bay, Woodwark Bay, Adelaide Point, Hay Point, Llewellyn Bay as well as on West Hill Island, Green Island, Rabbit Island, Sth Repulse Island and other places.

Trade with the Ngaro people in the nearby islands has also been documented. Billy Moogerah, who was the last Aborigine to live in the Whitsunday Islands, used to canoe from the islands to Cape Palmerston and made stops along the way for trade in Cape Hillsborough and Freshwater Point. However, Moogerah was removed from the islands when Bowen township was first settled.

European Contact

The Mackay Region was colonized by Europeans in 1867 who failed to recognize the aforementioned tribal boundaries and hunting rights of the local groups. Faced with starvation, the local Juipera started hunting the settlers' livestock, which resulted in deadly conflict. That together with disease decimated the population. Contact between European settlers and the local Aborigines of the Pioneer Valley was exceptionally brutal. In his 1886 frontier memoire, the settler, Harold Finch-Hatton mentioned a "nameless" man who poisoned a large group of Aborigines inland from Mackay. He described it as follows:

"More than a hundred blacks were stretched out by this ruse of the owner of the Long Lagoon. In a dry season, when the water sinks low, their skulls can occasionally be found half-buried in the mud."

Culture

The spiritual connection of the Juipera people with Cape Hillsborough continues to present and men's ceremonies are still performed along the mangrove boardwalk. Mount Jukes, too, was home to a men's ceremonial site, which is still visited each year by Juipera elders who speak of a large spirit walking around the camping grounds.

Language

The Yuwibara, Yuibera or Juipera language belongs to the Pama-Nyungan language family. The language almost became extinct, but the Yuibera community is now working to keep the language alive in Mackay. The following table includes examples of words from the Yuibera language:

Food

While Juipera women specialized in hunting freshwater turtles in the wetlands and swamps, the men would hunt sea turtles and dugong in the seagrass of the shore of Cape Hillsborough. The fat of dugong was even mixed with wax to form glue for spears. Moreover, fish, mud crabs, goannas, snakes, wallabies and brush turkeys formed an important part of their diet. Many different fruits were also eaten, including those from the Randia fitzalanii (Native Gardenia) and Mimusops elengi (Tanjong Tree).

Utilization of other natural products

The bark of the Melaleuca viridiflora (Broad-Leafed Tea Tree) was used to build huts while the leaves were bruised in water which was then injested for medicinal purposes.

The wood of the Acacia aulacocarpa (Hickory Wattle) was used to make digging sticks and spears while its seeds were used to make flour.

The Xanthorrhoea semiplana (Grass Tree) was used to make spear shafts and to start fires while its flowers were used to sweeten drinks.

The wood of the Corymbia dallachiana (Ghost Gum) burns well in wet conditions and was thus often used as firewood while its sap was used for medicinal purposes.

While the fruit of the Exocarpos latifolius (Native Cherry) was eaten, the wood and bark was burnt to repel mosquitoes.

The wood of the Flindersia schottiana (Silver Ash) was used to manufacture tools.

While the fruit of the Elaeocarpus grandis (Blue Quandong) was eaten, its seeds were also used for decoration and its buttress roots were used to make shields and paddles.

The bark of the Alstonia scholaris (Milky Pine) was ground to a powder which was then used as a glue to attach feathers to skin for ceremonies.

The fruit of the Morinda citrifolia (Cheese Fruit) was used for medicinal purposes while its roots were used for weaving or as string and its leaves were used to wrap up food for cooking.

The fruit of the Terminalia sericocarpa (Damson) was eaten while other parts of the plant were used as fish poison.

While the fruit of the Ficus racemosa (Cluster Fig) was edible, the sap was used to relieve diarrhoea.

The stems of the Flagellaria indica (Supple Jack) were split and used for sewing and fibre while other parts were used for medicinal purposes.

References

Yuibera Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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