Our Rangers
About Us
We know our Ngaachi is very beautiful and we must look after it according to our Lore, it’s our responsibility to protect our Storyplaces, water places and Ngaachi. We still have contact with our traditional lands and sea country. Our culture and ceremony are strong, and we know our country in a traditional sense.
Johnson chippendale, wuthathi elder
Our land and sea country’s biodiversity is not only unique to Australia, but it has international significance. Having gained Native Title rights to Wuthathi land in 2015, we are committed to managing and caring for country, through programs and projects that deliver and support the cultural and natural values of our land.
Our Integrated Culture and Conservation program is central to our caring for country and balances conservation with cultural practice.
The Wuthathi Aboriginal Corporation (WAC) is the Registered Native Title Body Corporate (RNTBC) holding interests for Wuthathi people in land and sea country in north-eastern Cape York Peninsula centred around Shelburne Bay. These interests include connection for 1,182 square kilometres of land including mainland, coastal and offshore islands and 8,072 square kilometres of sea country within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Coral Sea.
The WAC is incorporated under the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) and is governed by a Board of Wuthathi people. The Wuthathi Elders Council provides guidance to the corporation’s directors and staff to ensure the corporation operates respecting Wuthathi Lore and Custom. The WAC Board delegates responsibility for day-to-day operations of the corporation to the Wuthathi General Manager in line with approved policies and procedures.
We have a strong connection to our country, and we want to care for country for now and for future generations.
Our Values
Our Objectives
- To manage country according to Wuthathi cultural practice and contemporary management
- Identify conservation areas within Wuthathi country with full Traditional Owner participation
- Develop and implement a detailed management plan according to custom and contemporary to the conservation of identified areas
- Establish a small Wuthathi community
- Support economic self-determination through the development of sustainable or conservation-based economic enterprises
- Develop successful working partnerships to achieve Wuthathi’s aspirations and goals
- Establish an ongoing funding core for the management of our country, including employment and training funds