“We belong to this land us Mob ... by being on Country, caring for Country makes us strong”

Kaanju Ngaachi Wenlock & Pascoe Rivers IPA

IPA Declaration at Dusty Lagoon, 4 June 2008

The Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju Ngaachi Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) was declared on 4th June 2008 at a ceremony at Chuulangun on the upper Wenlock River on Cape York Peninsula, northern Australia.  The Kaanju Ngaachi IPA covers an area of 197,500 hectares of culturally, spiritually and biologically significant country. The IPA was declared on Aboriginal Freehold Land with the permission of the Traditional Custodians and the Mangkuma Land Trust which is the landholding body under the Queensland Aboriginal Land Act 1991.  The Kaanju Ngaachi IPA is the 25th IPA to be declared in Australia and was the first on Cape York. Our IPA Funding Contract with the Australian Government has recently been extended another four years to 2028.

Traditional Custodians at the IPA Declaration, 2008

The Australian Government’s IPA Program has been helping Indigenous communities voluntarily dedicate their land and/or sea country as IPAs since 1997. IPAs “are areas of land and sea country owned or managed by Indigenous groups, which are voluntarily managed as a protected area for biodiversity conservation through an agreement with the Australian Government.” Most IPAs are dedicated under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Categories 5 and 6, which promote a balance between conservation and other sustainable uses to deliver social, cultural and economic benefits for local Indigenous communities.

The Kaanju Ngaachi IPA is managed by the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation for the Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju Traditional Custodians. The key aspirations, actions and milestones for the protected area are set out in our Kaanju Ngaachi IPA Plan of Management which was prepared in 2005. This plan has had a number of revisions over the years and is currently being reviewed again in consultation with Traditional Custodians and key stakeholders. Our IPA management plans are available to view upon request by contacting Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation.

Our IPA Management Plans work alongside the following plans and strategies developed over the years by the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation:

• Northern Kaanju Fire Strategy
• Northern Kaanju Weed Management Plan
• Kaanju Ngaachi IPA Fauna Survey
• Kaanju Homelands Feral Animal Management Strategy
• Kuuku I’yu Fire Strategy
• Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju Ngaachi Cultural Heritage Management Plan
• Kuuku I’yu Rock Art Project 2014: Report on Cultural Heritage Management
  
• Kuuku I’yu Carbon Business Planning and Feasibility Study
• Chuulangun Biocultural and Historical Tourism Experience (2022)

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Land is highly significant to the Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju people and we continue to rely on the natural environment for spiritual and physical well-being. Creation ancestors or ‘Stories’ form part of a living landscape, and practices such as fire management, the protection of significant cultural site complexes, species management and economic activities, play a core role in contemporary Indigenous life.

The guiding principles for management of the IPA are:

• Interconnection of the cultural and biological (the bio-cultural) – Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju people do not separate out the natural landscape from the cultural one as to do so is irrational.
• Our ancient governance is as relevant today as in the pre-colonial past – we manage our Ngaachi in accordance with Indigenous laws based on bloodline and ancient systems of governance and we expect others to respect this.
• Working together for mutual benefit – we work with our neighbours and people in the region to support the local economy, sustainable land management and sustainable livelihoods on country.
• Capacity-building the homelands – we develop homelands-based projects, education and training that will enhance the capacity of people living on homelands.
• Correlating the Indigenous and western sciences – we incorporate, where appropriate, Indigenous knowledge with western scientific processes providing beneficial outcomes for natural and cultural resource management policy and practice.

Comprehensive work programs on the IPA are carried out by the Chuulangun Rangers.

Kaanju Ngaachi IPA Fauna Survey

In 2009-10 Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation conducted an inventory survey of the fauna of the Kaanju Ngaachi IPA with the assistance of a grant from the PEW Environment Group. Over the 18 months of the project a total of 263 native species were recorded, including 46 species of mammals, 140 species of birds, 25 species of amphibians and 52 species of reptiles.

Significant fauna records include:

• A population of a frog of the genus Cophixalus that is either the second population of a recently discovered and still undescribed species, or a new discovery to western science. The population was found in a granite boulderfield near the Pascoe River.
• The nationally Endangered Semon’s Leaf-nosed Bat at several locations. This cave-roosting species is declining northwards in Australia.
• The nationally Endangered Large-eared and Intermediate Horseshoe Bats. There is likely to be at least two roosts of both of these cave-roosting species in the IPA. These two bats were thought to be a single species until recently.
• A population of the little-known Cape York Rock-wallaby (Iyitpi) (listed as Near Threatened globally), among the granite tors and boulderfields of the Muula clan estate. This species was photographed in the wild for the first time during the survey by Chuulangun Rangers Sheanine Claudie and Farren Port. Along with the elusive Northern Quoll (Ching’ka), the Iyitpi were the subject of a recent project “Finding Iyitpi (Cape York Rock-wallaby) and Ching’ka (Northern Quoll) on Kuuku I’yu Homelands”.
• Two bat species listed as Vulnerable in Queensland, the Fawn Leaf-nosed Bat and Coastal Sheathtail Bat. The Coastal Sheathtail Bat is rarely found this far inland.
• An undescribed gecko of the genus Gehyra in gallery rainforest and vine-thickets.
• Numerous records of two rainbow skinks globally endemic to Cape York, the Coen Rainbow-skink and Crevice Rainbow-skink on granite outcrops with vine-thickets.
• A sighting of Iwayi (Estuarine Crocodile) in a lagoon near the Wenlock River. They are also known to occur on the Pascoe River within the IPA.
• Records of the Yitha (Yellow-spotted Monitor) and Muutha (Mertens’ Water Monitor), which are both moderately common on Kaanju Ngaachi. These two goannas are susceptible to poisoning from eating Cane Toads and have rapidly declined over much of northern Australia.
• Seven species listed as Near-Threatened in Queensland, including four birds (Rufous Owl), Kila (Palm Cockatoo), Australian Swiftlet and Marshall’s Fig-parrot and three mammals (Papuan Sheathtail Bat, Bare-backed Fruit-bat and Cape York Rock-wallaby). In 2021 the Kila was listed as Endangered in Queensland due to habitat lost and is the subject of a current project conducted by the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation and funded under the Threatened Species Recovery Grants program, called “Turning down the Heat: Strategic burning for the Kila (Palm Cockatoo) population on Kuuku I’yu Homelands, Cape York”
• Some of the most southerly records ever recorded for the Papuan Sheathtail Bat.
• Records of two bird species globally endemic to Cape York; the White-streaked Honeyeater was recorded several times, usually in gallery rainforest, and the Frill-necked Monarch was recorded in rainforest at several locations.
• Several species only found on Cape York Peninsula within Australia (but also found in New Guinea), including the Magnificent Riflebird (Ptiloris magnificus), Kila (Palm Cockatoo), Trumpet Manucode (Manucodia keraudrenii), Fawn Leaf-nosed Bat, Papuan Sheathtail Bat and Red-cheeked Parrot.