Tour Stop Three
Sacred Waanyi Land
The Waanyi People are the traditional owners and custodians of Riversleigh Country. Miyumba is the traditional Waanyi language name for this area.
Bujimala artwork © Len Cubby; Stone Artefacts Illustration © Jane Jehne
Tour Stop Three
Sacred Waanyi Land
The Waanyi People are the traditional owners and custodians of Riversleigh Country. Miyumba is the traditional Waanyi language name for this area.
Bujimala artwork © Len Cubby; Stone Artefacts Illustration © Jane Jehne
Take a look around...
Did you know?
Miyumba (Riversleigh) is part of ‘bottom end’ or ‘running water’ Waanyi Country. The spring-fed waters of the Gregory River are important both spiritually and as a major hunting ground for Waanyi people. The bulgi water is considered to have healing properties.
In the Wanggala (Dreaming)
Ancestral beings including Bujimala – the Rainbow Serpent – travelled through Riversleigh Country, giving shape and meaning to the landscape. Dreamings left behind their spiritual essence at special places in the landscape – powerful kunjul (red ochre) was left in Riversleigh Country by Bujimala.
Some Dreamings continue to inhabit these sacred places today and they must be respected.
In traditional Waanyi beliefs people have been on Riversleigh Country since the beginning of time, and according to science for at least 35,000 years.
Evidence of how people lived can be found throughout this cultural landscape. People camped, hunted and gathered food, used local stone to make tools, and painted in rock shelters. They left behind hearths, middens, artefact scatters, burials, stone arrangements and rock art. These places and objects have a special connection with the ancestors and old people.
Waanyi Responsibility and Connection
Waanyi people have an ongoing responsibility to look after this country and its visitors. Damage to this country can bring harm to Waanyi people who know of the dangers on Riversleigh Country and speak of it as being ‘alive’ with spiritual beings and forces.
