RIGHT IN the heart of Cardwell is the home of aboriginal tourism in the region, Girroo Gurrll Midja.
For visitors, it’s an experience quite unlike any other. You enter the centre and find that it looks more like a gallery than a retail shop. You’re greeted by two supervisors who will book a tour for you or offer suggestions about what’s available at the centre. They know the stories behind the art works on display and advise on any workshops or activities taking place on the day.
The regular craft workshops are an opportunity for non-indigenous people to try the skills that have come from living closely with the land.
One of the favourite workshops is the basketweaving. This is taken by Arthur Murray, an Aborigine who is one of the most acclaimed wet tropics basketweavers in Australia (as well as a Board member of Girroo Gurrll Midja). He shows how to make the string from the lawyer vein and how to weave. Baskets from the wet tropics are quite different from the baskets of other parts of the country.
All the traditional crafts of the area, including boomerang making, fire making and traditional shelter making, are shared at some time throughout the year.
People gather at a special area at the back of the premises for these workshops.
If you’re not there for a workshop, you can always just relax at the juice bar. It overlooks the sea, with a view towards Dunk Island, so you couldn’t find a better spot for a healthy break.
Talking about health, the centre also features a natural healing centre where you can book a massage, either as a feel-good experience or for pain relief therapy.
The aboriginal culture in the Cardwell area is alive and well. People still take their children out to the bush to teach them the traditional ways, and this living culture is part of what makes a tour from Girroo Gurrll Midja something special.
On a typical tour, you will be taken by coach to a community area and introduced to the culture of the people – how they hunt, make fire, the importance of the seasons and how they work within them.
On a short eco-cultural walk, aboriginal women talk about the uses of the plants of the rainforest for food and medicine. Guests have an opportunity to throw a boomerang or try fire making.
The half day tour returns to town at this point, and the full day tour continues. After lunch is a visit to Murray Falls at Edmund Kennedy National Park, and you can have a swim there if you choose.
There are 130 aboriginal people in the program, which runs with the help of just two non-indigenous advisers - a business development officer and a training and placement officer.
