K’gari Cultural Tours
Our Three Laws
For too long our history and story of connection with K’gari has gone untold - we welcome you to join us to share in all of what K’gari means.
Our ancient and enduring cultural connection with K’gari is guided by our Three Laws. Come learn how the Three Butchulla Laws encapsulate what K’gari means to Butchulla people and pledge your allegiance to live by our laws while visiting K’gari and when you return to your homeland.
Minyang galangoor gu djaa, kalim baya-m – What is good for the land comes first
Minyang waa nyinung, waa bunmalee dhama-n – Do not take or touch anything that does not belong to you
Wangou nyin gamindu biralunbar, nyin wumga-n – If you have plenty, you must share
KCT is our cultural tourism business, owned and operated by the Butchulla Entrerprises Limited (BEL) on behalf of Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) and its members.
We are the only wholly Indigenous-owned cultural tourism business operating on K’gari, which is the homeland and heartland of our people.
We established and operate KCT because we wish to share the cultural and natural beauty of K’gari with visitors to our Country. We are proud of our culture and country and want others to be able to experience it the way that we do. As our cultural Law states "If you have plenty, you must share" and it is out pleasure to share K'gari and its plentiful culture and natural beauty with you.
Galangoor djali, galangoor! - Welcome!
Butchulla People
Butchulla people are the traditional owners and custodians of K’gari (Fraser Island). Butchulla culture, customs and laws survive through unbroken lineage within our traditional land and sea estate. Our connection to K’gari is continuing and contemporary and is linked to our supreme ancestral beings.
Our ancient and enduring cultural connection with K’gari is guided by our Three Laws.
Butchulla respect, connection to, and responsibility for our land and sea country is of great significance to us. We are the rightful custodians of K’gari and have been for tens of thousands of years.
As the third Law states, "If you have plenty, you must share" - we wish to share the cultural and natural beauty of K'gari (of which there is plenty!) with its visitors.
K’gari Creation
(From stories told by direct descendent and Elder of the Butchulla people – Olga Miller)
Beiral, the great God in the sky, made all the people. But after he made the people, Beiral realised that the people had no lands! So Beiral sent a messenger, Yendingie, to solve the problem and create lands for the people. Yendingie came down from the sky, and set to work to make the sea, and then the land. When Yendingie arrived at what is now known as Hervey Bay, he had a helper – the beautiful white spirit called Princess K’Gari.
K’Gari was a great helper, and helped Yendingie make the seashores, the mountain ranges, the lakes and the rivers. Princess K’Gari enjoyed her work very much and worked tirelessly to create all this natural beauty. One day Yendingie was concerned, and said to her, “K’Gari, you better rest, otherwise you will be too tired to continue our work. There are some rocks over there in the sea. Why don’t you go and lie down and have a sleep?”
So Princess K’gari lay down on the rocks and had a long and deep sleep. When she awoke she said to Yendingie, “I think this is the most beautiful place we have ever created. Please, Yendingie, may I stay here forever?” “Oh no, K’Gari, I cannot allow that. You are a spirit, and you belong here with me!” But K’Gari pleaded with him, “Please, please Yendingie … I could still look up into the sky and see what you are doing. I would love to stay here.”
Finally Yendingie agreed. “You may stay here, but you cannot stay in spirit form. I will need to change you.” So he changed her into a beautiful island. So she wouldn’t be lonely, he then made some beautiful trees and flowers, and some lakes that were specially mirrored so that she could see into the sky. He made creeks and laughing waters that would become her voice, and birds and animals and people to keep her company. He gave these people knowledge and laws, and told them what to do, and how to procreate, so that their children and ancestors would always be there to keep K’Gari company.
And she is still there today, looking up at the sky in one of the truly most beautiful places on earth! She is very happy in, and as, “paradise”.
K’gari
K’gari is our word for paradise. Much more than the largest sand island in the world, it is our Butchulla homeland. It is where our people have lived and looked after for millennia.
Its status as a World Heritage Area marks it as a globally significant biocultural land and seascape, as an outstanding example of ongoing biological, hydrological and geomorphological process.
It is a place of exceptional natural beauty, with over 250 kilometres of clear sandy beaches with long uninterrupted sweeps of ocean beach, strikingly coloured sand cliffs, spectacular sand blows, majestic remnants of tall rainforest, and the world's largest unconfined aquifer on a sand island.