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Butchulla Men's Business | |
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| BUTCHULLA MEN'S BUSINESS ABORIGINAL ASSOC INC.. |
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Butchulla Men`s business Aboriginal Association Inc was incorporated in 2015 following a series of meetings/camps amongst Butchulla men to try to find a way to overcome the loss of identity and culture amongst Aboriginal men and boys on the Fraser Coast. Initial activities for the group centred around locating and recording Butchulla cultural heritage sites and teaching BMBAA members how to record them and what their individual significance was. At the same time, founder Glen Miller had just begun a relationship with WYLD founder Brad Crosbie, which focussed on trying to develop some programs for Aboriginal male youth which would assist them in their journey from boyhood to manhood. They discussed the initiation ceremonies of the old people and how they were designed to take boys from being children, into a lifelong system of responsibility, based on their particular tribal rules. Because of current European-based laws, it was impossible to recreate the traditional initiation rituals of old, so a new system had to be developed/found. For some time, we were at a loss as to what we could until we were introduced to Dr Arne Rubinstein of the Rites of Passage Institute who has been conducting RoP ceremonies world wide for over twenty years. After an initial meeting, Dr Rubinstein agreed to work with BMBAA and WYLD to conduct RoP camps on Butchulla country. Because of the work put in by GM in developing working relationships with local QPWS staff, we were able to use the Ravens Hill portion of Poona National Park to conduct the camps. The first camp was held in August 2018, with two more being held in August and October of 2019. In total some 36 boys and 20 fathers have been through the Rites of Passage process at Ravens Hill. In early 2019 GM wrote to Minister Leeanne Enoch, requesting that the Ravens Hill portion of Poona National Park be excised from the Park and leased back to BMBAA for the purposes of conducting initiation ceremonies and other cultural activities for boys and men. This request was actioned by Minister Enoch and a 20 plus 20 year Lease was formally signed off on the 5th August 2020 for the original two freehold blocks, Lots 4&5, an area totalling 686 acres. The property has easterly frontage onto the Sandy Strait and looks at K`gari( Fraser Island) BMBAA does not discriminate against non-Aboriginal boys and men. We seek to include non-Aboriginal males in everything that we do. In the face of what is happening in our broader society today, we are all facing the same problems of drugs, violence, alcohol abuse, pornography abuse, loss of self-respect and so we endeavour to try to find solutions together. Ravens Hill was formerly a 1200 acre cattle property that was owned by the Lakin family and was sold back to the government some twelve years ago. It had restricted public access and was poorly managed by QPWS. Prior to the BMBAA/WYLD RoP camps, the place was unused and lucky to have had some slashing done, once a year. BMBAA and WYLD members regularly work at Ravens Hill trying to keep the lantana, bladey grass, bracken fern and others feral plants at bay in the main areas that we use. Our long term plan is to develop the site into a place where we can pass on knowledge to boys and men relating to cultural practices such as; plant and animal management, traditional burning, initiation rituals and the principles taught by Dr Rubinstein and the Rites of Passage process. Our goal is to influence males to grow up to be responsible and useful men, for their families and the community. Currently we do not have any serious equipment to keep the Lease area free from invading plants and grasses. We have the place slashed a few times a year at an average cost of $660.00 per time, which we pay, even when it was a National Park. We have no regular source of income other than what we can raise to conduct RoP camps so the potential to obtain a machine that would allow us to do our own property maintenance would be a great advantage. Having a machine onsite would also provide WYLD with the opportunity to include machinery operation in the training courses they conduct for youth. Whatever happens, BMBAA and WYLD will continue to work together to conduct programs that assist men and boys within the Fraser Coast/Burnett area to become the best men that they can be. Glen Miller President Butchulla Men`s Business Aboriginal Association Inc. |