2023 Indigenous Round jersey

2023 Indigenous Round jersey

The jersey is part of a trilogy that celebrates the local First Nations peoples, Country, and stories of buangan (pronunciation: boo-un-gahn) or dolphins. The 2023 Red jersey represents the Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi and Ningy Ningy people of the north and the cliffs of Quandamooka Country (Moreton Bay), which are coloured red from the blood of the dolphin from the great battle when it got its blowhole. The jersey features parts of a specially commissioned artwork by Sunshine Coast artist Lyndon Davis, a Traditional Custodian of the Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi people, titled The Calling of the Dolphins. As Lyndon explains: “Here in Quandamooka Country (Moreton Bay), Aboriginal people used an ancient hunting practice to lure in the large schools of mullet closer to shore.

By slapping the water in a particular pattern to create water percussion and grinding their spears into the sandstone along the water’s edge, we communicated with the dolphins, who would hear these calls and drive the mullet to shore where the people were waiting with spears and nets.

The dolphin was never hunted by the Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi and was always there to share in the catch. Family groups of local pods of dolphins would respond and recognise the calls of Aboriginal families/clan groups. There were different families of dolphin connected with different families of Aboriginal people, with stories of ‘calling of the dolphins’ spread across the Sunshine Coast, Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) and Meanjin (Brisbane) clans.

This artwork represents those connections, the calling and the special relationship that has existed for thousands of years.”