Dolphins are the native totem of the Hervey Bay Butchulla People and were called Boothu or Yul’u or Djamarmee.
The clans are not permitted to hunt, harm or eat the dolphins and the dolphins repaid this respect by assisting the Indigenous people with their fishing. Dolphins would round up schools of mullet, confusing them into a huddle and steering them towards land, into the waiting nets or spears. The Butchulla and the dolphins then shared the tucker, creating a trusting relationship.
In 2021, the Queensland Government announced that the World Heritage Area within the Great Sandy National Park, which is centred on Fraser Island, along with the surrounding waters and parts of the nearby mainland, was renamed K’gari - the original Butchulla people’s name for the island, meaning ‘Paradise’.
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