TWO Kuku-Thaypan Elders, George Musgrave (Snr) and Tommy George
(Snr) were awarded doctorates from James Cook University in May.
George Musgrave and Tommy George are the only two surviving Elders
of the Kuku-Thaypan clan with traditional knowledge and a fluency
in the Kuku-Thaypan language.
Drs Tommy George and George Musgrave were both born in the Low
Lake region in Lakefield National Park, or what is traditionally
known as Kuku-Thaypan country. Tommy is the younger of the two at
78; George is 85. George and Tommy can always be found ‘on
country’ working to teach, demonstrate and mentor Indigenous
and non-Indigenous people to run the country in the traditional
way.
They are involved in a Traditional Knowledge Recording Project
(TKRP) in collaboration with Balkanu Cape York Development
Corporation and James Cook University. The project, which has been
running for three years, records all aspects of their language and
culture, from fire, land and water management, to Indigenous
medicines, uses for flora and fauna and how it all
inter-relates.
The doctorates recognise their traditional knowledge,
contributions to research, and their role in maintaining a
significant Indigenous cultural system and its survival for future
generations by way of the TKRP.
