Overview

Kalwun’s ‘Paradise Dreaming’ tours are conducted to provide a cultural insight into the Gold Coast’s rich indigenous heritage. Cultural development and education are promoted through performances, workshops and information sessions with primary and secondary schools, universities, conferences, tourists and members of the public.

The Tour

The tour begins with an introduction of the narrator and the tour itself…………

1.    Bus trip to Merrimac Sacred Aboriginal Burial Ground.
•    During the drive to our first stop a brief history of the custodians of the land, the Kombumerri is shared and an overview of what the tour will entail is given.
•    The Burial Ground is the resting place of our ancestors. Skeletal remains of up to twelve hundred years old are buried here at this site.
•    This site is also symbolic as the significance for the inhabitants of the area is vast, in its natural resources. Several trees for numerous purposes have been planted in the park to demonstrate the many purposes each tree had for the Aborigines. This part of the tour is highly educational and highly interactive.
•    It also endeavors to explore the mysteries of ancient Aboriginal culture, linking forces of the past with the spirit of the future.

2.   Bus trip to an Indigenous Initiation Bora Ring at Burleigh. During the journey to the Ring a narration and a brief description of the Bora Ring is shared with the group. This part of the tour gives the children/participants time to reflect on the Burial Ground and prepares them for the next stop.
•    The Bora Ring is a very consecrated place for the Kombumerri. To set the scene, imagine young boys preparing for manhood by way of initiation. This initiation involved women preparing their sons for manhood, corroborees, story telling and celebrations.
•    Traces of Aborigine camps and Bora Rings survived well into the 19th century before being erased by development. The Bora Ring at Burleigh is one of a few that has stood the test of time. This part of the expedition is very significant, and a valued part of the tour.

3.    Bus Trip to the Burleigh Mountain. During the drive, a brief depiction of the Burleigh Mountain is given and a run down of what activities we will be participating in at the mountain is explained.
•    At the Burleigh Mountain we will experience the thrill of an ancient Aboriginal culture and together we will walk around the side of the mountain to the first Midden (a midden is an ancient feasting ground. The details of these are enlightened in the tour).

4.    We will then make our way back to Queensland Parks and Wildlife where we as a group enter an auditorium to watch our Aboriginal Dance Troupe perform their cultural dance and demonstrate their connection between Aboriginal people and their Earthmother.
•    Aboriginal dances are far more than an expression of exuberance
or cultural development. They illustrate clan lore, provide a lesson in Food Gathering, tell a story or demonstrate an aspect of Aboriginal lifestyle.
•    The Aboriginal dancers’ ancestors lived in a paradise of plenty where the first contact with Europeans is most likely to have occurred in 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.
•    After this culturally thrilling event we then take a seat to relax at the bottom of Burleigh Mountain, here we snack on damper and enjoy refreshments.
•     Shortly after the Dancers join us to anoint our faces. With each anointment comes an incredible story. A story that each person can take home with them. The purpose of this is to not only make the experience more enchanting, but to facilitate even more information amongst our young, our mass and our innocent.

•    After we have rested we then board the bus for the last time and make our way back to our drop of point.

Times

Kalwun Paradise Dreaming Tours run two tours a day:

-  Morning Pick up 9.00am
-  Afternoon Pick up 12.00pm
-  Monday – Saturday

•    Pick up from schools/major hotels/specified area.

•    Our bus can hold 20 students/participants including our driver and narrator and a teacher or interpreter.

•    Each tour is catered to suit diverse levels of education and maturity.

•    COMING SOON:  Private tours

Contact

1/30 Lawrence Drive
Nerang Qld 4211
PO Box 2123 Nerang 4211
Phone (07) 5578 3434 or (07) 5578 3044
Fax (07) 5596 3649
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it