ABOUT OUR GALLERY
All artefacts are hand-carved and made by the Jinibara people, the Traditional Custodians and registered Native Title holders for the Woodford, Queensland area.
Woodfordia’s Traditional Custodians Gallery is a partnership between Woodfordia Inc, producers of the Woodford Folk Festival, and the Traditional Custodians of the Woodford area, the Jinibara people. The intent of this partnership is to create a viable business for the Jinibara by sharing their art and culture with the world. Each piece is hand-made by a member of the Jinibara tribe from a workshop on the Woodfordia site. The goal of this gallery is to employ members of the tribe and sell their beautiful creations to people across the globe.
Clapsticks are a percussive instrument used by members of the Jinibara to maintain rhythm during ceremony along with singing and chanting. They are struck against each other and are played by both men and women. The clapsticks are made with both a light and dark-coloured timber. The light timer is grey ash from Uncle Noel’s property in Woodford. The darker pieces are Australian wattle. Black wattle is very special and used to make spears, boomerangs, woomeras and clapsticks.
Each clapstick set produces a different sound. The clapsticks which are round and pointy have a deeper, dull sound. The flatter clapsticks have a lighter sound and are more prevalent and pronounced tone. You can change the tone when you clap on the flat or the edge. And it all depends on the rhythm of the song to get the right beat of the clapsticks. It’s up to you to determine the tempo. The thickness, width and how you hold the clapsticks create a different tune.
Didgeridoos are wind instruments made with eucalyptus (gumtree) trunk naturally hollowed by white ants (termites) in the Australian bush. They have a beeswax mouth and are hand-carved and burnt with cultural symbols including bees, wallabies, turtles, water holes and suns. Our didgeridoos make a beautiful sound covering all notes. Digeridoos are played during ceremony by men by using a technique known as circular breathing.
Spear + Woomera set was used by the Jinibara for hunting. The woomera attached to the end of the spear to increase accuracy, speed and traveling distance. The woomera is traditionally used by men.
Here are some of the symbols found on our artefacts:
