Djiru Warrangburra Peoples share their traditional knowledge across generations: a P3DM experience in Australia

Attracting approximately 2 million tourists each year, the Wet Tropics region is home to more than 18 distinct Rainforest Aboriginal tribal groups for whom the region holds deep cultural and spiritual significance. Many of these Aboriginal groups deal with multiple threats to their traditional landscapes, due to pressures such as tourism, agriculture and population growth. As some of the most disadvantaged people in Australia, Aboriginal people often do not have the resources to address these threats comprehensively and regularly experience the loss of vital cultural heritage and access to their traditional landscapes as a result of these pressures.

The Djiru Warrangburra people are one of the culturally rich Rainforest Aboriginal tribal groups of the region. They live in and around the rainforests and coastal flats of the Mission Beach area, about 2 hours south of the regional centre of Cairns.

Djiru traditional lands are also home to some of the last remaining numbers of the southern cassowary - Casuarius casuarius johnsonii - a species endemic to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and listed as endangered. 

In April 2016 Djiru people began implementing a participatory 3-dimensional model (P3DM) covering close to 60,000 hectares (576 sq km) of land and sea, and including areas such as World Heritage, National Parks, freehold tenure.

At a scale of 1:10,000 the Djiru P3DM exercise is intended to encourage intragenerational sharing of knowledge vital to the longevity of Djiru culture ad the identity of Djiru people. Still in progress the P3DM is expected to be complete by June 2016. The project is being facilitated by the Wet Tropics Management Authority and is funded under the Queensland Gambling Community Benefit Fund.