SCHHS Profile | Sunshine Coast Hospital And
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Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health Cultural capability Achieving sustainable health gains for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders is a core responsibility and high priority for the whole health sector (Everyone’s Business) and is a guiding Significant events principle of Making Tracks towards closing the gap by 2033. The SCHHS supports and engages in celebrations that promote and recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Islander Culture (SCHHS) acknowledges the Traditional Owners, the Gubbi Gubbi people, of the Sunshine Coast and • Apology Day Gympie Regions which the Sunshine Coast Hospital • Closing the Gap and Health Service covers. • NAIDOC Population Programs The population data below is based on the 2011 Census of Population and Housing question about • Cultural Practice Program (Mandatory) - To Indigenous status. Please note that the boundaries develop the knowledge and skills that will enable used to determine this information may not be exact, each person to best contribute through their and the data is approximate. roles in the workplace towards improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander • 6,060 persons (or 1.6 per cent) were Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander peoples (compared to • Deadly Young Persons Program 3.6 per cent in Queensland) • Cultural Healing Program • 39.1 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait • Come Gather Program (nutrition). Islander peoples were aged 0 to 14 years (compared to 18.8 per cent of non-Indigenous persons) Clinics • 3.4 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were aged 65 years and over • Flu and Pneumonia (March –June) (compared to 13.4 per cent of non-Indigenous • Respiratory Health persons). • Eye Health • Breast screening Workforce • Oral Health • Jabba Jabba (immunisation) – children. • As at June 2015 SCHHS had 5022 employees • Included in this number are 73 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Local history from Bundaberg in the north to Bourke in the south and Taroom in the west. Naturally only the fittest and The first inhabitants of the Maroochy District strongest would make the long journey from those were the Aboriginal people of the Kabi Kabi distant places. language group, which consisted of a number of tribe’s including the Nalbo, Kabi, Dallambara and The Bunya Mountains gathering was quite a large Undanbi. scale event and there was also a smaller bunya gathering held every year in the Blackall Range on the For perhaps as many as 20,000 years they hunted Sunshine Coast, at a place now called Baroon Pocket the ranges, fished the rivers and gathered seafood Dam. from the ocean. The burning of the countryside at appropriate times was a regular practice. Gubbi Gubbi lands were very popular for many people, not only for the Gubbi Gubbi people, but also for all Aboriginal people derive significant social meaning those living in the surrounding areas. and a concept of belonging through relationships between each other’s, tribes, clans, families and Traditionally Gubbi Gubbi people believed that every the land. For Aboriginal communities, the land animal, bird and rock that belonged to their group’s was (and still is) integral to their culture and way totem was in fact the actual living spirit of an ancestor. of life. They practiced holistic land management As a result each member felt a definite kinship with that ensured the health of the land for future that species. The totem, if it were a bird or animal, was generations. never hunted or killed for food by the person whose totem it was. Undumbi, Gubbi Gubbi and the Dulingbara people were collectively referred to as Bungarnuba The dyungungoo, or territory of the Gubbi Gubbi, meaning Saltwater people by neighbouring clans. is a typically-sized area for the south coast. The Large numbers of Aboriginal people lived in the seasonal nature of food resources meant that groups resource rich Sunshine Coast area until the late travelled over, what seemed to non-indigenous 1800s and early 1900s, when they were forced from people, a vast area. Weather and seasonal variations their traditional lands by the encroaching white affected shellfish supplies, and land-based resources settlers and many from this area were moved to needed to be used to supplement these temporary Barambah Reserve (Cherbourg), near Kingaroy, supplies. The seasonal availability of fruits, grasses Yarrabah (near Cairns) and Palm Island (near and vegetables meant that groups travelled to these Townsville). locations when the food was in season. This seasonal migration was a form of conservation. Kabi Kabi is the name of the actual language spoken by the local Aboriginal people. Gubbi Gubbi By varying their diet to include everything in the area means “NO”. Gubbi Gubbi lands stretched from that was at all edible at that time, the Gubbi Gubbi the Pine River in the south, to Burrum River in the ensured that the one or two favoured food items north and west to the Conondale ranges. Their would not cease to exist. territories were bordered by mountain ranges and river systems. There were approximately 20 “clans” Contacts within this vast area, each numbering from 150 to 500 strong. All of these family groups shared this Lance Lewis, Cultural Practice Coordinator language, and would come together on a regular P: 5470 5937 basis for special ceremonies, such as marriage, initiation, and festivals. E: [email protected] One gathering that held great significance was Sharon Barry, Program Manager the Bunya gathering, held every three years in the P: 5313 4275 Bunya Mountains. People would come from far and E: [email protected] wide to be involved in these important meetings; .