Trees
Fig trees
jarrangkal · mujarr · kumin · yinkunji · dukal · binanji · baril-barilFicus spp. (including Ficus racemosa and F. opposita)
Fig trees (Ficus) have more names in Kuku Yalanji than almost any other kind of tree. Jarrangkal is 'fig tree and its fruit', and there are separate words for at least six particular figs, among them mujarr, kumin, yinkunji and dukal[1]. The fruit was an important seasonal food on the Bloomfield River. Some figs were eaten fresh, some were sun-dried and kept for weeks, and dukal is only edible after roasting[2][1]. Fig bark made the fibre for the men's ngunyin bag[2], and rough fig leaves were used like sandpaper to smooth spear-throwers[2][3].
Hann River Cape York
Possum People's country on the upper river and Thaypan (Kuku Thaypan) country downstream: stringybark and bloodwood woodland and a spring-fed sandy river that runs north-east from the Great Dividing Range, past the Peninsula Developmental Road, into Rinyirru (Lakefield) and the North Kennedy. Not Kuku Yalanji country: the Kuku Yalanji words on this page are the dictionary's, not the Hann's own languages. Place guide
Figs grow in the Hann country, along its streams and through its woodland. The Atlas of Living Australia holds 24 fig records, from 1965 to 2020, in a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann, Laura and western Rinyirru, and 16 of them are the sandpaper fig, Ficus opposita[10]. Kuku Thaypan Elders call it Ku Munjala, 'a useful tree to the traditional people', used 'for food and medical purposes and for craft work too'[11].
Names here
In Kuku Thaypan, 'chi is a prefix for all edible fruit, ku for all trees'[11]; the sandpaper fig is Ku Munjala[11]. About 1900 Roth wrote down Princess Charlotte Bay names, in the Koko-rarmul and Koko-wara languages, for the sandpaper fig and for two other figs, F. fasciculata and F. platypoda[5]. The Kuku Yalanji names above are not this country's.
Which figs, and where
Besides the sandpaper fig, the Atlas holds two records each of F. congesta, F. henneana and F. hispida in the box, and one of the cluster fig, F. racemosa, from 1976[10].
The Elders say the sandpaper fig 'grows in most parts of the country and is best identified by its rough sandpaper like leaves'. It has 'a very milky sap which also seeps out of the leaf stems', 'grows fairly large and bears small fruits in many numbers throughout the year', and the trees stand 'all by themselves and are not common in large forests'[11].
The cluster fig is a tree of the river fringe. The Queensland Herbarium's paperbark fringe of the big streams, the kind of country along the Hann, has Ficus racemosa in its sub-canopy (regional ecosystem 3.3.10a)[12], and downstream 'gallery rainforest grows along parts of the Normanby and Kennedy rivers'[13].
How people used them here
Sandpaper. Roth found sandpaper-fig leaves used 'on the Bloomfield and Laura for "polishing" the spear-throwers'[14]; his food list notes of the same fig, 'Its rough leaves used for polishing wommeras, etc.'[5]. Laura is Kuku Warra country, the Hann's neighbour[15].
Fruit. Roth lists the fruit of the sandpaper fig, F. fasciculata and F. platypoda among the foods, each with its Princess Charlotte Bay names[5].
Twine. On the Morehead River, which runs like the Hann to Princess Charlotte Bay, F. fasciculata bark twine was 'manufactured just like the Macaranga, and made into dilly-bags'[8]. See string and twine.
Food, medicine and more (Kuku Thaypan). Of Ku Munjala the Elders say: 'It is used for food and medical purposes and for craft work too. The tree also has a spiritual use to assist the people with living on country'[11]. What those uses are, and the spiritual one above all, is the Elders' to tell.
On country today
The upper Hann is the Possum People's country and the middle and lower Hann are Thaypan country, under native title determinations of November 2023[16][17]; Laura is Kuku Warra country[15]. Native title holders may gather for personal, domestic and non-commercial communal needs without the licences others need[18]. Anyone else should ask before picking fruit or stripping bark.
Upper Mitchell Western Yalanji
Western Yalanji country west of the Great Dividing Range: dry open woodland cut by the sandy, paperbark-lined upper Mitchell River, around Karma Waters and Mount Carbine. Place guide
On the upper Mitchell, the Atlas of Living Australia records the cluster fig and the sandpaper fig along the rivers[19].
Where it grows here
Around Karma Waters. Within 30 km of the homestead, the Atlas of Living Australia holds four fig records. There are two of a 1967 cluster-fig specimen labelled only 'Palmer River', with rough coordinates. There is also a Ficus obliqua from 2002, and a 1972 sandpaper fig from the McLeod River on the road from Mount Carbine to Cooktown. Within 60 km there are about 120 records of some fifteen species. The commonest are the sandpaper fig, F. obliqua, the cluster fig and F. henneana[19]. The collector Edward Palmer reported cluster-fig fruit (as Ficus vesca) being eaten on 'Mitchell and most coastal rivers'[5]. F. vesca is another old name for F. racemosa[6]. So look for cluster figs on the banks of the Mitchell and its side creeks.
On country today
Inland, the Western Yalanji determinations recognise rights to take and use natural resources for personal, domestic and communal needs[20].
Eastern coast Eastern Kuku Yalanji
Eastern Kuku Yalanji country: rainforest, beaches, mangroves, reef and the short steep rivers from the Daintree to the Bloomfield and the Annan.
On the Bloomfield River the fruit was an important seasonal food, and fig bark made the fibre for the men's ngunyin bag[2].
Where it grows here
On the Bloomfield, most of the important fruits, figs among them, grow in rainforest, on its edges or in the gallery forest along the big creeks[2].
Seasons here
Most Bloomfield fruits ripen between May and August[2].
How people used them here
Food (Bloomfield). Kuku Yalanji counted at least fifty kinds of desirable fruit, and several figs were among the most important. People often picked them up while doing something else, such as men out hunting or women out fishing. Long sticks knocked fruit down from tall trees, and it was carried home in bark troughs or dilly bags. Some figs could be dried in the sun and kept for several weeks[2].
Fibre (Bloomfield). Of the three main kinds of bag on the Bloomfield, two were women's bags of black palm or grass fibre. The third, the men's bag called ngunyin, was made of Ficus fibre-twine. People said it could stretch big enough to carry a small wallaby. Men also carried their own things in it, such as a small stick tipped with gum, firesticks wrapped in paperbark, and spare spear barbs[2].
Gathering fruit
Gathering fruit, Bloomfield River[2]:
- Knock ripe figs down from tall trees with a long stick.
- Carry them in a bark trough or dilly bag.
- To keep some, dry them in the sun. Certain figs then last several weeks.
On country today
On the coast, much Eastern Kuku Yalanji fig country lies in the Daintree, Ngalba-bulal, Kalkajaka and Hope Islands national parks. These were returned to Eastern Kuku Yalanji Traditional Owners on 29 September 2021 and are jointly managed[21].
Everywhere
Names
Jarrangkal is the general 'fig tree and its fruit'. The dictionary also lists it as one 'species of fig'[1]. The other names pick out particular figs:
- mujarr: its edible fruit is 'like a very small apple', red when ripe, and 'grows out of the trunk of the tree'. It ripens in August to October.
- kumin: 'the fruit looks like an eyeball'. It also ripens in August to October.
- yinkunji: the 'longest black fruit', which ripens in the wet.
- dukal: a fig 'that is edible after roasting'.
- binanji: a 'large edible' fig.
- baril-baril: the 'Moreton Bay fig tree'[1].
Mujarr is probably the cluster fig, Ficus racemosa. Its figs grow on special shoots from the trunk and main branches[4], just as the dictionary describes. At Cooktown, Roth recorded the Guugu Yimithirr name mu-char for Ficus glomerata[5], which is an older name for F. racemosa[6]. Which fig Bloomfield speakers meant by 'Moreton Bay fig' is not recorded, and nor are the species of kumin, yinkunji, dukal and binanji.
Description
Figs are trees and shrubs with a milky or brownish sap[4][7]. The 'fruit' is a fig with tiny flowers inside, pollinated by fig wasps that crawl in through the opening at its tip[6].
The cluster fig (F. racemosa) is a large tree that drops its leaves around August or September. Its round or slightly pear-shaped figs are about 3–4 cm across. They hang in clusters on special shoots from the trunk and main branches. The sap turns brown when it meets the air[4].
The sandpaper fig (F. opposita) is often only a shrub of 1–3 m, though it still fruits at that size. Its leaves, 6–14 cm long, are 'usually sandpapery on the upper surface'. The figs are 15–20 mm across and hairy, and some turn black and shiny when ripe[7].
Where it grows
The cluster fig grows in dry rainforest, beach forest and gallery forest, sometimes in country 'quite dry and not conducive to rain forest development', from sea level to 500 m[4]. The sandpaper fig grows in open forest, monsoon forest and beach forest, up to 750 m[7].
Seasons
The dictionary puts mujarr and kumin ripe in August to October, the late dry. Yinkunji ripens in the wet[1]. The cluster fig drops its leaves around August or September[4], so in the late dry its trunk-borne figs are easy to see on the bare branches. At the Pennefather River, far to the north, Roth noted that one fig twine was 'made in the dry'[8].
Uses
Food. Dukal must be roasted before it is eaten[1]. Neighbouring peoples ate many figs. Roth's food list gives Cooktown and Cape Bedford names for several, among them mu-char[5].
Fibre. The dictionary's ngunyin means both 'dilly bag' and 'the tree bark used to make into strips and weave fishing nets and dilly bags'[1]. Fig fibre links to string and twine and to nets.
Fibre (neighbours). Roth recorded fig twine in many places north of the Bloomfield[8]:
- F. platypoda: fibre for dilly bags. At Cape Bedford it was called berdiga.
- F. fasciculata: twine for dilly bags on the Morehead and Starcke rivers.
- F. cunninghamii: a reddish twine from the dried inner bark of the roots, on the Pennefather.
- F. orbicularis: a whitish twine.
Sandpaper. Rough fig leaves were Bloomfield sandpaper. Anderson records leaves of the sandpaper fig used to smooth spear-throwers and other wooden things[2]. Roth notes the same on the middle Palmer River, at Cooktown and on the Bloomfield, where fig leaves smoothed the blades of spear-throwers[3].
How it was done
Making bark twine. Roth wrote that F. fasciculata twine on the Starcke and Morehead rivers was made 'just like' that of Macaranga. This is his general method[8]:
- Cut a fairly smooth switch and strip off its bark.
- Snap the bark strip sharply at an angle. This lets you peel the fibre away from its coloured outer covering. Throw the covering away.
- Wash and rinse the fibre for a few minutes, until the water turns cloudy, 'to make milk come out'.
- Dry it in the sun.
- Split the dry shreds with your fingernails until they are fine, 20–25 cm long or more.
- Sitting, roll a shred forward on your outer thigh with the open hand to make a strand.
- Fold the strand in two. Roll it once forward and once back under the palm to twist two plies together. Hold the twist and repeat along its length, rolling in a new strand when one runs out.
The dictionary does not say how dukal was roasted.
Safety
Not every fig is good to eat raw. The dictionary singles out dukal as edible only after roasting[1], so learn from people who know which fig is which before you eat any. Roth's and Anderson's records are history, not tested recipes. Cluster figs feed many birds and animals, and feral pigs eat the fallen fruit[4], so expect pigs under fruiting trees.
On Country today
Native title rights differ from place to place; see each place below. Under s 211 of the Native Title Act 1993, native title holders can gather for personal, domestic and non-commercial communal needs without the licences other people need[9]. Visitors should ask Traditional Owners before stripping bark.
Language
jarrangkal 'fig tree and its fruit'; jilanji 'edible fig'; ngurrkul 'tree and its edible fruit, found only in deep scrub', also listed as a 'species of tree (with edible fig)'; wulku 'fig'; yinjul 'fig parrot'[1].
Ngunyin has four senses: 'dilly bag', 'the tree bark used to make into strips and weave fishing nets and dilly bags', 'spider web' and 'placenta'. A related word, warrur, is 'tree bark which can be used as vine', used to make fishnets dragged through the water in the dry season. The dictionary does not say which tree it comes from. Twine itself is karra, 'rope, cord, string'[1].
Images
References
- Hershberger, H. D. & Hershberger, R. (1982). Kuku-Yalanji Dictionary. Work Papers of SIL-AAB, Series B, Volume 7. With Toby Bloomfield, Roy Friday, Billy Roberts, Hector and Doris Sykes, Joe Walker and others. www.sil.org/resources/archives/18038
- Anderson, C. (1996). Traditional material culture of the Kuku-Yalanji of Bloomfield River, North Queensland. Records of the South Australian Museum 29(1): 63–83. Based on fieldwork at Wujal Wujal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. — Gathering (fruit); dilly-bags (ngunyin); manufacturing items (Ficus opposita leaves) archive.org/details/RecordsSouthAus29Sout
- Roth, W. E. (1909). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 13: Fighting weapons. Records of the Australian Museum 7(4). — Sect. 10, n. 22 (fig leaves for smoothing spear-thrower blades: middle Palmer, Cooktown and Bloomfield rivers) archive.org/details/biostor-52873
- Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (RFK8), Ficus racemosa (cluster fig, figwood). CSIRO / Lucidcentral. apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/ficus_racemosa.htm
- Roth, W. E. (1901). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 3: Food — its search, capture, and preparation. Brisbane: Government Printer. Bloomfield River information from R. Hislop. — Plant list, 'Ficus glomerata', 'Ficus vesca' (after E. Palmer); 'Ficus opposita', 'Ficus fasciculata', 'Ficus platypoda' (with Koko-rarmul and Koko-wara names, Princess Charlotte Bay) archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Wikipedia, 'Ficus racemosa' (synonyms include Ficus glomerata Roxb. and Ficus vesca F.Muell. ex Miq.) (accessed 6 October 2026). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_racemosa
- Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (RFK8), Ficus opposita (sandpaper fig). CSIRO / Lucidcentral. apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/ficus_opposita.htm
- Roth, W. E. (1901). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 1: String, and other forms of strand: basketry-, woven bag-, and net-work. Brisbane: Government Printer. — Sect. 6, plant list ('Ficus'); sect. 7, manufacture of fibre-twine; 'Ficus fasciculata' (Morehead and Starcke rivers) archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Australian Law Reform Commission (2014). Review of the Native Title Act 1993, Discussion Paper 82, ch. 8: Relevant provisions in the Native Title Act (s 211, preservation of native title hunting, fishing, gathering and cultural activities). www.alrc.gov.au/publication/review-of-the-native-title-act-1993-dp-82/8-the-nature-and-content-of-native-title/relevant-provisions-in-the-native-title-act/
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of the genus Ficus in a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann River, Laura and western Rinyirru (lat −15.6 to −14.8, long 143.5 to 144.3), queried 28 October 2026: 24 records (1965–2020), of them Ficus opposita 16, F. congesta 2, F. henneana 2, F. hispida 2, F. racemosa 1 (1976). biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=genus%3AFicus
- Standley, P.-M. (2019). The importance of campfires to effective conservation. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Records the fire and country knowledge of Kuku Thaypan Elders Dr Tommy George and Dr George Musgrave. — Kuku Thaypan prefixes ku and chi (p. 297); Ku Munjala, sandpaper fig (p. 339) researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64274/
- Queensland Herbarium. Regional ecosystem descriptions, Cape York Peninsula bioregion: 3.3.10a (Melaleuca fluviatilis fringing woodland), 3.3.24 (Eucalyptus leptophleba woodland on riverine levees, Laura area), 3.10.6 and 3.10.10 (Darwin stringybark woodland on sandstone), 3.3.66 (lakes and lagoons). apps.des.qld.gov.au/regional-ecosystems/
- Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. Nature, culture and history: Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL) (web page, last updated 1 July 2024; accessed 28 October 2026). parks.qld.gov.au/parks/rinyirru-lakefield/about/culture
- Roth, W. E. (1904). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 7: Domestic implements, arts, and manufactures. Brisbane: Government Printer. — Wood-work: polishers (Ficus opposita leaves on the Bloomfield and Laura) archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 19) (Kuku Warra determination) [2023] FCA 1314 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1314
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 21) (Possum determination) [2023] FCA 1316 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). — Determination area (upper Hann and Kennedy rivers); prescribed body corporate; affidavit evidence on hunting and fishing www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1316
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 20) (Thaypan determination) [2023] FCA 1315 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). — Determination area and waters; prescribed body corporate (Awu-Laya Indigenous Corporation); affidavit evidence on hunting www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1315
- Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), section 211: preservation of certain native title rights and interests (hunting, fishing and gathering for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs). www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of the genus Ficus within 30 km and 60 km of the Karma Waters homestead (16.618° S, 144.605° E), queried 6 October 2026 (4 records within 30 km; about 120 within 60 km). biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=genus%3AFicus&lat=-16.6179&lon=144.6047&radius=60
- Brady on behalf of the Western Yalanji People #4 v State of Queensland [2013] FCA 958 (Logan J, 24 September 2013), consent determinations of native title over lands in and around the Palmer and Mitchell River systems north-west of Mt Carbine. www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2013/2013fca0958
- Queensland Government (29 September 2021). Ministerial media statement: Daintree, Ngalba-bulal, Kalkajaka and Hope Islands National Parks returned to Eastern Kuku Yalanji Traditional Owners as Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal Land, to be jointly managed. statements.qld.gov.au/statements/93360
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