Acknowledgement

Patha polngol ngatherruw patha kunjarr ngen kokthapal

Pinnarinch (my homeland) is my mother's place and we the Kokoberrin people are the owners of this place! - Pinnarinch Ma Wanjibang.

Kareyo, (greetings) I am Wanjibung of the Kokoberrin (pronounced Kok perrenng) clan and I talk for the land starting from Koyaru, the mouth of Staaten River up along the 3-mile sand ridge, reed bed, Wanjibung up to Pinnarinch near the Inkerman Station homestead in what is known as western Cape York Peninsular. Ma Wanjibung is the sour yam that grows at the reed bed on the 3-mile ridge. It's native to that place. Pukun is the grass that grows in the pockets south of Pinnarinch. These pulénthvrr, two totems survive through me as a descendant and ngánduw, I take their energy and connection and accept them chichvrráy, forever from my chélmanvngk, clever man, ngathérruw, pa-thérrkathvny (pa-) wanggénvng my baba Kenny Jimmy.

I'd like to acknowledge my thangk, ancestors who lived for warrék, hundreds of thousands of years evolving under the star light of the patháliy ngamáyvrr with their place, with their walngk, feelings, with their story, pínganvm, with their bora, yirral. I acknowledge my thangk who are buried on country at Inkerman Station, I acknowledge their art and cultural objects stolen by Walter E Roth who was appointed the first Northern Protector of Aboriginals in 1898 and was based in  Guugu Yimithirr country Cooktown, Queensland. From 1904 to 1906 he was Chief Protector and part of his duties was to record Aboriginal Australian cultures. Somewhere between 1904 and 1906 he stole up to 50 cultural objects which now live in the deep dark dungeons of the Australian Museum in Sydney. 

I acknowledge my separation with my people for a time because of the colonsiation ngathérruw, my mother’s mother pa-kanmáyvrr, Ivy Edwards endured and lived. I acknowledge my reconnection from around 1990 when I reconnected with my grandmothers families in Normanton and Kowanyama in Cape York.

I acknowledge all the many customers who took part in our evolution as a brand, as a movement, as a connection to this country. The piece of Wildbarra you bought connects us, not only you to my land and past, but also, to our future. 

I acknowledge the land I live on today belonging to the Yirrganydji people in Gimuy, Cairns. Their sovereignty keeps me strong as a stranger to lands and waters never ceded. 

Ma wanjibung pukun.