Jagera people

Yuggera is classified as belonging to the Durubalic subgroup of the Pama–Nyungan languages, but is also treated as the general name for the languages of the Brisbane area.[2] The Australian English word 'yakka' (loosely meaning 'work', as in 'hard yakka') came from the Yuggera language (yaga, 'strenuous work').[3]

The Yuggera language was identified by Tom Petrie on page 319 of his "Reminiscences" recorded by his daughter Constance, by the traditional language identifier, the word for "no". Their association with central Brisbane is established by the word for Brisbane, being recorded as "Mianjin".[4] Mianjin is the spike of land from North Quay to Breakfast Creek, and was also known, as was the tribe there, as Miguntyun.[5]

Ludwig Leichhardt's Diaries 1842-1843 recorded Miguntyun as "Megandsin" as the name for the land holding area from Brisbane CBD to Breakfast Creek, and the people who spoke the Yuggara Yugarabul language.[6]

This group is one of the traditional custodians of the land over which much of Brisbane is built.[7] The Turrbal people are a separate group who lived in Brisbane, and retain their Aboriginal party status under the current terms and application of the ACHA, which is based on the history of native title claims over the greater Brisbane area.[8] The Turrbal People spoke the Turrbal language, which although different from Yuggera is considered by many to be a dialect of Yuggera.

According to Watson, the Jagera-related peoples in the Chepara family group inhabited the territories from Moreton Bay to Toowoomba to the west, nearly to Nanango in the north west, including Brisbane and Ipswich.[9] However, this is disputed by many groups and has resulted in numerous native title claims for the area. It also encompasses Jimna and its surrounding forests, where their traditional lands adjoined those of the Wakka Wakka and the Gubbi Gubbi (also Kabi Kabi or Gabi Gabi). Subgroups of the Chepara have identified with distinct areas including those concentrated in the Fassifern and Lockyer Creek areas. The Yugambeh and the Bundjalung people bordered them on the south.[10]

An Indigenous land use agreement (ILUA) was signed over the site of the historic 1843 Battle of One Tree Hill, now known as Table Top Mountain, when the warrior Multuggerah and a group of men ambushed and won a battle with settlers in the area. The ILUA was signed between Toowoomba City Council and a body representing the "Jagera, Yuggera and Ugarapul people" as the traditional owners of the area, in 2008.[11][12]

On 25 July 2017, the full bench of the Federal Court decided on appeals of the Turrbal People and the Yugara People, rejecting both appeals and confirming the 2015 decision that native title does not exist in the greater Brisbane area.[13][14][15][16]

Other spellings and name variants for the group include Yuggara, Yuggera, Chepara-Yuggara, Chepara-Yugara, Ugarapul, Yugarabul, Yuggarapul, and Yugarapul. The word pul means "people who speak Yug[g]ara".

The groups who spoke dialects of the Yuggera language living in the region include the Turrbal, Jagera, Yugara, Yuggera Ugarapul, Jagera Yagera Gurrangnam peoples.

Map of traditional lands of Aboriginal Australians around Brisbane.

• Meebatboogan, Mount Greville, Moogerah Peaks National Park.
• Cooyinnirra, Mount Mitchell, Main Range National Park.
• Booroongapah, Flinders Peak, Flinders Peak Group.
• Ginginbaar, Mount Blaine, Flinders Peak Group.

• Multuggerah, 19th-century warrior
• Uncle Desmond Sandy[17]
• Aunty Ruth James[17]
• Aunty Pearl Sandy[17]
• Uncle, Hon. Neville Bonner, former Australian senator, was a Jagera tribal elder.[18]
• Auntie Jeannie Bell, Australian linguist.[19]
• Auntie Faye Carr, 2017 National NAIDOC Awards Winner Female Elder of the Year[20][21][22]
• Latia Schefe, 2017 National NAIDOC Awards Winner Youth of the Year[20][23][22]
• Susan, originally Bunjoey, daughter of Moonpago.[24][25]