27/08/2026
How are we helping to protect and nurture the Living Waters around us this Season of Creation?
"Wangan and Jagalingou Cultural Custodians will mark five years of the Waddananggu cultural ceremony with a three-day gathering on their homelands within the Adani/Bravus Carmichael mining lease in Central Queensland.
The Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodians began the Waddananggu, meaning "the talking", ceremony on August 26, 2021, on land covered by the mining lease.
A sacred fire has remained burning within a stone circle, or Bora ring, since the ceremony began, with other Aboriginal peoples and non-Indigenous people invited to join the Waddananggu community within Wangan and Jagalingou Country.
The anniversary follows more than a decade of opposition to the Carmichael coal mine from Wangan and Jagalingou people, with the Cultural Custodians maintaining they never gave free, prior and informed consent for the mine.
"For five years we have been asserting our human rights and reclaiming our Wagalbara clan groups territory inside the broader Wangan and Jagalingou nation..."
"We are asserting that Adani's coal mine is unlorefully stealing our property... damaging of the sacred Doongmabulla springs and theft of Wagalbara resources without our consent."
Today we celebrate 5 years of Waddananggu!
What started as a task to stop a mine, has evolved into a quest for freedom for my clan.
Adani’s coal mine is draining Doongmabulla springs. We told them this would happen. We also told them that we were never going to back down.
For five years we have been asserting our human rights and reclaiming our Wagalbara clan groups territory inside the Wangan and Jagalingou nation, back from the crown.
We assert that Adani’s coal mine is unlorefully stealing our property and that the crown along with the Queensland government is complicit in the damaging of the sacred Doongmabulla springs and theft of Wagalbara resources without our consent.
This weekend more than 200 people will gather for the Waddananggu ‘Mala’ celebrations and be part of our ceremony. Mala means ‘five’ signifying five years of Waddananggu. It also means 'hand' and every hand is welcome here. We gather every year to build and to celebrate the peaceful reoccupation and protection of Wangan and Jagalingou homelands with our new community members.
