Big plans for incredible Gowrie Junction indigenous site

A LOCAL indigenous organisation is dreaming big.

Lee Faulkner places a grinding stone into the new display cabinet at Gummingurru near Gowrie Junction. Hundreds of artefacts will need to be sorted through before the final display items are determined.

A LOCAL indigenous organisation is dreaming big.

Gummingurru Aboriginal Corporation recently received a $4000 sponsorship from an Inland Rail program to purchase a museum-grade display cabinet for their cultural centre at Gowrie Junction, west of Highfields.

It's a small but welcome step on the journey for Gummingurru to become, in the words of GAC spokesman and traditional custodian Shannon Bauwens, a "world class cultural experience".

"We can only work within our small means, but we'd love to have a big centre where we can have dances, smoking ceremonies and share our culture," he said.

The centre is located next to a ceremonial ground including rock formations and a bora ring, thought to be between three and six thousand years old.

The site, Mr Bauwens said, was "part of the songlines or pathways up to the Bunyas", where young men would be initiated on their way to the triennial gatherings of indigenous people in the Bunya Mountains.

Matthew Washington and Michael Lucas in front of the new display case. The next round of applications for Inland Rail Community Sponsorships and Donations program closes on July 31, 2020.

That Gummingurru still exists is an incredible story in itself.

"Without Ben Gilbert, (it) could have easily been lost," Mr Bauwens said.

Mr Gilbert bought the property on which Gummingurru is located in 1948 and began researching its significance.

In the process, he became friends with Harry "Bunda" Darlow, a local indigenous man and Mr Bauwens' great uncle.

Bunda knew about the formations, and passed his knowledge on to Mr Gilbert after making a blood pact with him and giving him a "skin name" - Banda - meaning protector.

In December 2000, Mr Gilbert handed the site back to traditional custodians.

Mr Bauwens said the centre hosts visits from students, and they're creating a "learnscape", a living exhibit that people will be able to walk through and learn about the cultural use of bush tucker, scar trees that were rescued from Toowoomba Bypass site, and more.

The cultural centre applies for grants and funnels money from visitors back into its development.

Philanthropy, Mr Bauwens said, "would be fantastic".

"It's all part of Australian history and (the centre) gives people an appreciation for our culture," he said.

"If you understand something, you appreciate it more."