In far north Queensland, Linc and Brandon Walker are following the traditions of their ancestors, sharing their knowledge of country and culture by offering visitors a personal and unique glimpse into the Kuku Yalanji way of life.

Kuku Yalanji Cultural Habitat Tours offer a range of tours exploring the traditional fishing grounds of Cooya Beach, the magnificent National Parks surrounding Port Douglas, the Mossman Gorge, Daintree River and sacred Bloomfield Falls. The company also offer cultural educational presentations for school groups, and overnight camping trips.

The business represents a natural extension of Linc and Brandon’s own daily rituals and practices of hunting, gathering and caring for land through regeneration. At Cooya Beach they guide groups of visitors through three diverse eco-systems – beach, mangroves and coastal reef – connected by mudflats and tidal lagoons. Wading knee-deep in water, guests learn to spear-fish, hunt for mussels and mud crabs, and identify and gather bush foods and medicines.

‘We like our visitors to leave their comfort zones’, said Linc Walker, ‘to experience and do things they maybe didn’t know they were capable of, to really see and observe what’s around them. And while learning about our culture, they also learn something about themselves’.

Education and cultural exchange are at the heart of the tours, which include sharing damper and the catch of the day with the children and elders of the extended Kubirri Warra clan.

Brandon and Linc attribute their business success to ‘enjoying what we do by being who we are’. However they are also fiercely determined to ensure the survival of their Kuku Yalanji culture. ‘Culture is at the core of our wellbeing, our community, our future and our land’, said Linc. ‘Our culture is ancient, and we want and need it to remain strong and relevant, to travel with us into the 21st century’.

The brothers continually seek out ways of expanding their business, favouring activities that generate employment and economic opportunities for the wider community. Their Daintree Dreaming Day Tour now includes a visit to a local Aboriginal artist whose work depicts the reef, rainforest and stories of the Kuku Yalanji people.

The success of that tour, which also takes in Cooya Beach, the Niau Falls and the rainforest of the World Heritage Listed Daintree National Park, has seen Kuku Yalanji invited to become part of the Indigenous Tourism Champions Program.

As Champions Kuku Yalanji are invited to attend major tourism trade shows nationally and internationally, which Linc says is vital for building networks and industry partnerships. ‘But we also get to see what’s out there’, he said ‘and learn how other cultural-based businesses are sharing traditional knowledge in the 21st century’.

Find out more about Kuku Yalanji Cultural Habitat Tours (external website, new window).