1. Animals
2. Children as artists
3. Children as authors
4. Country
5. Creation
6. Culture
7. Dreaming
8. Environmental protection
9. Giya people E58
10. Ngaru people (E59) (SF55-04)
11. Queensland
12. Rivers and creeks

The Dreaming of the Gia and Ngaro people who inhabit the Whitsunday region of Queensland is kept within the stories of the old people and has been handed down to their children to paint into stories for all to see and learn.

The stories and paintings tell how the animals came to be and how they all lived happily by the rules of Mother Nature. Sadly this did not last. One day three pelicans came for fish but could not see them as the river was all muddy. The river had become polluted by mud as the white people were killing the trees and the earth was being washed into the river and out to the sea. The animals tried to tell the people to look after the land but the people did not listen.

But one little fish swam out to the sea and asked the sea snakes and sea stars for help. They in turn asked the stars in the sky for help and they did, sending a message to the people to look after the land as they were killing Mother Nature. And the people heard and did things differently and the river became clean again and the animals were happy once more.

The Gia and Ngaro people are saltwater people who have over 9000 years utilised the resources of the area. They are expert seafarers and travelled from island to island and to and from the mainland in both bark and outrigger canoes. They feasted on shellfish, turtle, dugong, fish and bush tucker all of which were once in great abundance in the reefs, waters, mangroves, rainforests and woodlands of the Whitsundays.

1. ABC Local by Fiona Dickson 25 June 2008 ‘The Ngaro people of the Whitsundays’ https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/06/25/2285036.htm
2. Wikipedia, Gia people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gia_people
3. Reef Catchments, ‘Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef’ https://reefcatchments.com.au/traditional-owners/
4. Queensland Government Department of Environment and Science ‘Whitsunday National Park Islands – Nature, culture and history’ https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/parks-whitsundays/about/culture