Giving educators access to Indigenous cultural knowledge

one family’s perspective

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Griffith University’s School of Education and Professional Studies is pleased to produce this project in collaboration with Kombumerri Traditional Custodians, and the Queensland Department of Education. The shared vision is to engage Gold Coast students in reconciliation, respect, and recognition of the world’s oldest continuous living culture.

The project has gathered Kombumerri knowledge and stories in a series of fifty short videos. Six Kombumerri Traditional Custodians share their perspectives, passed down through generations of families. Versions of the knowledge and stories may vary from that of others within the broader Kombumerri community.

Now educators can utilise their professional expertise to embed this Indigenous knowledge into unit planning relevant to their year level, learning area and school context. Griffith University will incorporate these perspectives into teaching practices to increase awareness and appreciation of local cultural knowledge and recognise the Kombumerri people’s custodianship of the land on which our Gold Coast campus is located.

In 2024, more than 14,000 people from around the world engaged with the content on Kombumerri Together, helping to support the ongoing recording and preservation of intangible cultural heritage—including local folklore, traditions, language, and knowledge.

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Video titles

● HASS    ● Science    ● English    ● Maths   
● Technologies    ● HPE    ● The Arts   

1.	How to Tell What is in Season	●  ●  ●  ●
2.	The Nerang River Love Story	●
3.	Yarning Circles	●
4.	Significant Totems and Symbols	●  ●  ●
5.	Weddings and Birthdays	●
6.	A Boy’s Coming of Age	●
7.	Waste Disposal	●
8.	Kinship and Skin Lore	●
9.	How did Time Differ?	●  ●
10.	Caring for Land	●  ●
11.	Plant Resources	●  ●  ●
12.	Spiritual Wellbeing	●  ●
13.	More Natural Resources	●
14.	Gwondo	●  ●  ●  ●
15.	The Story of Javreen (Jabreen)	●  ●  ●
16.	Family Structures	●  ●
17.	How Decisions are Made	●
18.	Sorry Business	●
19.	The Site of the Marriott	●  ●  ●
20.	Trading and Ceremony	●
21.	Before White Settlement	●
22.	The Timber Industry	●
23.	Black Diggers	●
24.	Preserving Food	●
25.	The Seasons	●
26.	Protocols for Art and Instruments	●
27.	Music and Instruments	●
28.	Managing Boundaries	●
29.	Care for Special Places	●
30.	Yugambeh Language	●  ●
31.	Important Roles	●  ●
32.	Did the Kombumerri Farm?	●
33.	Paint and Ochre	●
34.	Respecting the Environment and Totems	●  ●
35.	Cultural Sites
36.	Natural Disasters	●
37.	Predicting the Weather	●  ●
38.	Hunting Grounds	●  ●  ●
39.	Caves	●  ●
40.	Respect Elders	●
41.	Hygiene	●  ●  ●
42.	Protocols for Young and Old	●  ●
43.	Women’s Business	●
44.	Extended Family	●
45.	The Importance of Dreamtime Stories	●
46.	How the Kombumerri Communicated	●  ●  ●
47.	The Goomp Goomp	●
48.	Songs and the Songman	●  ●
49.	What Shelters did the Kombumerri Make and Use	●  ●

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View Digital Resources and associated Enquiry Questions by Learning Area