The construction of a new yarning circle at Eidsvold as well as a series of cultural knowledge workshops have kept the North Burnett’s locals busy throughout June.
The North Burnett Community Service organisation helped to facilitate two bilum bag workshops led by Mundubbera resident Belinda Butler on Saturday 14 and 21 June.
Bilums are handmade string bags used by the indigenous peoples of Papua New Guinea to carry goods, cradle young children and for a variety of other tasks.
Ms Butler, who grew up in Papua New Guinea’s Eastern Highlands province, received the knowledge of weaving bilums from her mother and aunts.
Throughout the two workshops at Mundubbera and Eidsvold in June, Ms Butler taught the culturally significant craft to groups of her fellow North Burnett locals.
She explained that the practice of weaving bilums, called looping, was time- and labour-intensive, but that the craft has allowed PNG’s women to gather, talk and share their cultural practices for generations.
The NBCS also facilitated another Indigenous knowledge workshop on 19 June, inviting the owner of Mundowran nursery Range Station, Angela Beutel, to host a show-and-tell on Australian native plants and bush tucker.
A group of interested locals gathered at Ms Beutel’s nursery to learn about the many plant species traditionally used by Australia’s First Nations people.
At the conclusion of the workshop the group chose a range of plants, which they would go on to plant around a new yarning circle outside Eidsvold’s Munjoorum hall the following week.
Wakka Wakka elder Ismay Law is leading the Munjoorum yarning circle project, which kicked off with a working bee on Tuesday, 24 June.
Volunteers of all ages from the North Burnett Community Service and Eidsvold Garden Group gathered to lend a hand to the project, placing the chosen bush tucker plants around the circle.
On 1 July the workers returned to the site, erecting four totems and cleaning out Munjoorum’s shed in preparation for new groundskeeping equipment.
A spokesperson for the NBCS said the yarning circle’s official opening date was yet to be determined, but that works on the project were progressing steadily.
“Yarning Circles have been a central part of Indigenous culture for thousands of years,” the spokesperson said.
“They provide a respectful and inclusive space for storytelling, knowledge-sharing, cultural preservation, and collaborative problem-solving.
“At the heart of the Yarning Circle is the belief in the equality of all voices and the value of every story.
“This project has truly been a community effort, with generous contributions of time, labour, and resources from the people and businesses of Eidsvold and Mundubbera,” they added.
