Learning about First Nation Culture

At Esk State School we understand the importance of acknowledging Country accurately. In the past this has been challenging for us as we were lacking specific understanding of whose Country we were on. More recently, and with the aim of building that knowledge, so that we could pay our respects to the traditional custodians and better understand local First Nation history​, efforts have been made to connect to people who have a relationship to this Country specifically. Thanks to the sharing and input from the Jagera Daran and the Jinibara People Aboriginal Corporation, we are now aware that:

• Esk State School and Esk are situated on “Border Country" that has been shared and used as a meeting place between the local Nations for millennia. This is one of the reasons why the traditional custodianship of this area has been challenging to name.
• The traditional custodians of this area are the Yuggera Nations (to the South), and the Jinibara Nations (to the North and East), as well as the Dungibara Nation (to the West).
• The Yuggera Nations is a language group, that includes the Jagera clan that have a special affinity with this area. This line includes Neville Bonner and his family line, and Dr Jeannie Bell and her family line. If you have more information on this and would like to share, please contact us directly.