Aboriginal Culture, Heritage
& Arts Association of NSW

A beacon for Gumbaynggirr people

The Gumbaynggirr peoples have occupied the Mid North Coast from the Nambucca to the Clarence River since the Yuludarla or the Dreaming. The Mirlagalgi aka Gaabi Elders represents the traditional custodians of the Northern Lowlands Gumbaynggirr jagun or country. Their deep attachment to this land is reflected in oral histories passed down from over 6000 years of community, trade and ceremony at Red Rock. The Gaabi Elders have been extremely active with National Parks & Wildlife Service and other cultural land management agencies ensuring that cultural places and landscapes are protected and cared for.

Despite the ravages that invasion and colonization brought, and the diaspora of the Gumbaynggirr people, the community in Corindi Beach survived throughout the 20th century by living outside the reserve system in ‘no man’s land’, on the other side of the fence, where sandy soil behind the dunes made it near impossible to farm or graze. Here they could still talk language, continue traditional practices and retain their relationships with the cultural landscape.

Yarrawarra Aboriginal Corporation was established at Corindi Beach in the 1980’s with the founding membership of local Gumbaynggirr people wanting to retain cultural continuity expressed through stories and events associated with specific sites in the local landscape. Its aim was to provide economic, social and cultural opportunities for the local Aboriginal community.

The site at 69 Red Rock Road was purchased from the CH&DLALC to establish a cultural centre while another portion of land was leased to grow vegetables and establish a workshop. During the 1990s, Yarrawarra Aboriginal Corporation purchased Lot 4, adjacent to 69 Red Rock Rd, and constructed many buildings in the area. Here Nuralamee Accommodation and Conferencing Centre was opened in 1999. Nuralamee is the Gumbaynggirr word meaning "home camp".

Established in 1987 by the Gaabi & Bagawa Elders, Yarrawarra, meaning "happy meeting place", is an Aboriginal culture, conference and accommodation centre and is proudly owned and operated on a not-for-profit basis by Aboriginal people, predominantly from the Gumbaynggirr language group. Yarrawarra focuses on the Aboriginal community maintaining their cultural heritage and integrity and is a beacon for Gumbaynggirr people residing on the east coast to come and reconnect with the country, their Ancestors and their Dreaming.

Yarrawarra became a service of Gurehlgam Corporation Ltd in 2016 after a voluntary wind-up of the Yarrawarra Aboriginal Corporation. The wind-up was due to the cease of support by the Federal Government and diminished member base after the CDEP program was abolished, leaving a majority of the community without employment.

Since the wind-up, Yarrawarra has flourished under Gurehlgam and the management of the locals who have made it into a first-rate cultural ecotourism and education facility, with the Wadjar Regional Art Gallery, Nuralamee Accommodation and Conference Centre, Jalumbo Cultural Heritage Keeping Place, Pipe Clay Bush Tucker Café and a wide range of cultural activities that employ Elders and community members from all over Gumbaynggirr Country. Gurehlgam is an Aboriginal community service provider located in Grafton, on the edge of Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung country, run by a board of Aboriginal people of three nations. It facilitates a myriad of community programs and not-for-profit businesses for Aboriginal health and wellbeing and community development.