For the greater part of humankind's sojourn upon the planet Earth DJABUGAY PEOPLE have been hunter-gatherers. The harmonious integration of the hunter-gatherer people with their environment is key to survival, yet today we find the world suffering the side-effects of so-called " Progress" poisoned rivers, lakes and oceans, contaminated earth, acid rain, the extinction of numerous species of flora and fauna.
The last hundred years have been the equivalent of a cultural holocaust for the Djabuganydji people, who, dispossessed of the land and the ritual life that celebrated their living bond with that country, have been deprived of their heritage and subjected to a coercive regime of assimilation to a culture with values and practices alien to their own.
The forests that have been a source of sustenance for thousands upon thousands of years have been plundered by commercial interests. Towns, suburbs, cane-fields, farms, highways, tourist developments all have made their mark upon the landscape.
In 1913, large numbers, particularly of Djabugay people, were rounded up and forcibly taken to the mission.