About Us

We Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju Pama are Kaanichi ‘inland’ people belonging to the highlands – the mountains, plateaus and sand ridge country of central Cape York Peninsula, Northern Australia.

Our Ngaachi extends over some 840,000 hectares of bioculturally significant land and waters centred on the upper Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers and comprises some 30 named clan estates.

Our Ngaachi holds social, biocultural, spiritual, historical and ecological importance for us and features many significant Story (or Dreaming) places, sacred ceremonial grounds, totemic sites and areas of rock carving and painting. The Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers have enormous cultural significance as the Creator of all of Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju Ngaachi under the umbrella of Payanamu (Rainbow Serpent) and I’wai (Crocodile).

Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju families living on Ngaachi at Chuulangun, Coen, Lockhart River and other Cape York communities and more widely are direct descendants of focal Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju apical ancestor and Lore Man, George Moreton Snr.

Our Old People and kin worked tirelessly over many years to return to Ngaachi. It is the passion, hard work and commitment of these Elders who set the foundation for the establishment of the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation and the development of our homelands at Chuulangun which has grown into a vibrant community today.

Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation

Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation was formed in 2002 by descendants of focal Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju apical ancestor, George Moreton Snr, members of the Moreton/Claudie/Nelson families.

‘Chuula’ is the Kaanju language word for Frilled-neck lizard and the name of the clan estate where the Chuula Story is situated on the Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju Ngaachi. Chuulangun is ‘the place of the Frilled-neck lizard’.

Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation was incorporated under the Commonwealth Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976, now the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2007. The corporation is homelands-based and not-for-profit. Chuulangun’s governance is ‘Ancient but New’, an extension of ancient Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju governance, based on a locally focused traditionalist vision of Indigenous futures. The ‘bloodlines’ that tie people to different tracts of land are the foundation of Aboriginal governance, knowledge, land tenure and land management.

Our objectives include improving the social, cultural and economic well-being and health of our community and supporting our own people as well as the wider Aboriginal community to return to homelands.

We are committed to protecting our Ngaachi, our Traditional Indigenous Knowledge, and practicing our governance which is as relevant today as in the pre-colonial past. We advocate strongly to ensure that recognition of proper Indigenous governance, kinship, bloodline and Indigenous land tenure are at the foundation of management and decision-making about our Ngaachi and People.

In 2008, with support of Traditional Custodians and the Mangkuma Land Trust the Kaanju Ngaachi Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) was declared over 197,500 hectares of the Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju homelands on the upper Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers. The IPA is managed by the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation under the National Reserve System for recreation and conservation purposes.