North
The Logan, Albert, Coomera and Nerang river catchments in south-east Queensland — Beaudesert, Logan, Beenleigh and the Gold Coast hinterland. This is usually described as Yugambeh Country, the northern part of the wider Bundjalung grouping.
Tweed to the Clarence
Bundjalung Country map
There is no single official map of Bundjalung Country, and every map you will find online — including the ones at the top of search results — is an approximation. This page explains why, describes the rough extent, and points to the organisations that hold real boundary information.
Why there is no one official map
Bundjalung Country is not a single block of land with an agreed edge. It is a nation or language grouping made up of many clan estates, and those estates were held by particular families, followed rivers, ridgelines and coast rather than survey lines, and overlapped at the margins. Boundaries were knowledge, not cartography.
The map most people find is the AIATSIS Map of Indigenous Australia. It is a genuinely useful overview and it is worth looking at, but AIATSIS is explicit that it was compiled from published sources of varying accuracy, that it is not intended to be exact, and that it must not be used for native title or land claims. Reproducing it as though it settles a boundary question misrepresents what it is.
Colonial boundaries do not help either. Local government areas, national park boundaries, postcodes and Local Aboriginal Land Council areas were all drawn for administrative reasons, at different times, for different purposes. They are current and publicly mapped, which makes them practical, but none of them is a map of Country.
If you need a boundary for a real purpose — a Welcome to Country, a development application, an Aboriginal cultural heritage assessment, a land claim, a research project, a sign — go to the relevant Local Aboriginal Land Council or registered native title body. A map you found in a search result is not a substitute, and using one as though it is can cause real harm.
The rough extent
With all of the above understood, Bundjalung Country is commonly described as covering the Northern Rivers of New South Wales and the adjoining part of south-east Queensland: from the Logan and Albert river catchments in the north, south to the Clarence River, and inland from the coast to the Great Dividing Range and the Border Ranges.
Coast
North to south: Tweed Heads, Kingscliff, Pottsville, Ocean Shores, Brunswick Heads, Byron Bay, Ballina, Evans Head and Iluka.
Inland and west
Murwillumbah, Mullumbimby, Bangalow, Nimbin, Lismore, Casino and Kyogle, out through Woodenbong and the Border Ranges toward the Queensland border and Tenterfield.
South
The Clarence River, where Bundjalung Country meets Yaegl Country. Grafton, Maclean, Yamba and Iluka all sit in that zone, and the pages for those towns do not try to draw the line.
Who holds boundary information
Local Aboriginal Land Councils
Under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, every part of New South Wales sits inside a Local Aboriginal Land Council area, and those boundaries are current, gazetted and mapped. For most enquiries the LALC is the right first call. Councils whose areas fall within or overlap Bundjalung Country include:
- Tweed Byron Local Aboriginal Land Council — Tweed Heads, Byron and the Tweed coast.
- Ngulingah Local Aboriginal Land Council — Lismore and the Wilsons River.
- Jali Local Aboriginal Land Council — Ballina, Wardell and Cabbage Tree Island.
- Casino Boolangle Local Aboriginal Land Council — Casino and the mid Richmond.
- Bogal Local Aboriginal Land Council — Coraki and the lower Richmond.
- Muli Muli Local Aboriginal Land Council — Woodenbong and the Border Ranges.
- Gugin Gudduba Local Aboriginal Land Council — Kyogle and the upper Richmond, with its office in Kyogle.
- Jubullum Local Aboriginal Land Council — Jubullum Village and Tabulam on the upper Clarence.
- Jana Ngalee Local Aboriginal Land Council — Malabugilmah Village on the upper Clarence.
- Baryulgil Square Local Aboriginal Land Council — Baryulgil and the upper Clarence.
- Grafton Ngerrie Local Aboriginal Land Council — Grafton and the mid Clarence.
- Birrigan Gargle Local Aboriginal Land Council — Yamba and the lower Clarence.
- Yaegl Local Aboriginal Land Council — Maclean and the lower Clarence, in Yaegl Country on the southern border.
Areas and contact details change. The NSW Aboriginal Land Council keeps the current directory and a boundary map at Find your Local Aboriginal Land Council. In south-east Queensland, the equivalent first contact is usually the relevant Aboriginal corporation or the local council’s First Nations unit.
Native title and NSW Aboriginal land rights: what’s the difference? These are separate legal frameworks; this is general information, not legal advice.
Native title bodies
Where native title has been recognised by the Federal Court, a registered native title body corporate (RNTBC, often called a PBC) holds and speaks for it. The Federal Court determinations most often referred to across Bundjalung Country, and on its Yaegl border, are listed below in date order. All are consent determinations of non-exclusive rights — they sit alongside other interests such as public access, and they cover particular parcels of Crown land and water, not everything inside a claim boundary.
| Year | Native title holders | Area (approximate) | Federal Court decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Githabul People | About 1,120 km² in nine national parks and 13 state forests around Kyogle, Woodenbong and the Border Ranges | Trevor Close on behalf of the Githabul People v Minister for Lands [2007] FCA 1847 |
| 2013 | Bandjalang People | Land and waters around Evans Head and the lower Richmond, including parts of Bundjalung National Park, the Evans River and part of the Richmond River | Bandjalang People No 1 and No 2 v Attorney General of New South Wales [2013] FCA 1278 |
| 2015 | Yaegl People (neighbouring Country) | Lower Clarence River estuary from Harwood to Yamba | Yaegl People #1 v Attorney General of New South Wales [2015] FCA 647 |
| 2017 | Western Bundjalung People | More than 800 parcels of land and water in a claim area of over 5,000 km² around Tabulam, Baryulgil and Malabugilmah | Western Bundjalung People v Attorney General of New South Wales [2017] FCA 992 |
| 2017 | Yaegl People (neighbouring Country) | Sea country between Woody Head and Wooli, including Dirrungun Rocks at the Clarence mouth | Yaegl People #2 v Attorney General of New South Wales [2017] FCA 993 |
| 2018 | Western Bundjalung People (Part B) | The remaining part of the Western Bundjalung claim area; took effect in May 2021, once the related Indigenous Land Use Agreements were registered | Western Bundjalung People v Attorney General of New South Wales [2018] FCA 970 |
| 2019 | Bundjalung People of Byron Bay (Arakwal) | Land and waters between Broken Head and Brunswick Heads, including sea country — the first positive determination in a densely populated part of NSW | Nicholls on behalf of the Bundjalung People of Byron Bay v Attorney General of New South Wales [2019] FCA 527 |
| 2021 | Bandjalang People | 52 further parcels, about 7.2 km², including land around Evans Head, Bora Ridge and Lawrence | Bandjalang People No 3 v Attorney-General of New South Wales [2021] FCA 386 |
| 2022 | Widjabul Wia-bal | About 11,700 hectares of Crown land around Lismore | Widjabul Wia-bal v Attorney-General of New South Wales (Section 87 Agreement) [2022] FCA 1521 |
This is not a complete register. The National Native Title Tribunal holds the authoritative list of determinations and claims, and each determination has a defined, mapped area — that is the closest thing to an authoritative boundary that exists, and it only covers the land in that determination.
The clans guide lists the registered native title body for each determination. Registers and maps are public. See Bundjalung-area native title corporations in NSW and ACT, search registered Indigenous Land Use Agreements, or search Bundjalung in AIATSIS AustLang. See clans and groups for who is who.
Need a boundary for a real-world decision? Use the relevant Local Aboriginal Land Council or registered native title body. Native-title determinations and LALC areas are legal/administrative records; neither should be treated as a complete map of cultural Country.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Bundjalung Country map?
No. There is no single authoritative map of Bundjalung Country. The most widely reproduced map of Aboriginal Australia, published by AIATSIS, carries its own warning that it is not suitable for native title or land claims and is based on published sources of varying accuracy. Boundary information for a real purpose comes from the relevant Local Aboriginal Land Council or native title body, not from a map online.
Where does Bundjalung Country start and finish?
It is usually described as running from the Logan and Albert river catchments in south-east Queensland south to the Clarence River in New South Wales, and inland from the coast to the Great Dividing Range and the Border Ranges. Those are approximate edges, not lines on the ground — around the Clarence in particular, Bundjalung Country meets Yaegl Country without a crisp boundary.
What is the difference between Bundjalung, Yugambeh and Githabul?
They are usually described as parts of the same language group rather than separate nations. Yugambeh is generally treated as the northern group, around Logan, Beaudesert and the Gold Coast hinterland; Githabul as the western group around Kyogle, Woodenbong and the Border Ranges. Each has its own organisations and its own view of how it relates to the wider Bundjalung grouping.
Do I need a map for an Acknowledgement of Country?
Usually not. An Acknowledgement needs you to know whose Country you are on at that particular place, which is a question for the local Aboriginal Land Council or the relevant native title body. They will also tell you the form of words local people prefer, which a map cannot.
Why do Local Aboriginal Land Council boundaries not match Bundjalung Country?
Local Aboriginal Land Council areas were created under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 for land administration. They are useful, current, publicly mapped boundaries and the right contact point for most enquiries, but they were drawn for a statutory purpose and are not a map of traditional Country.
Keep learning
Or jump to another guide:
Clans and groups
Arakwal, Githabul, Bandjalang, Widjabal, Nyangbal, Yugambeh and the other names you will meet.
Bundjalung language
Dialects, why spellings differ, and the language centres that actually teach and publish.
Place names
Which Northern Rivers town names come from Bundjalung language, and which came from Britain.
Bundjalung National Park
The coastal park between Iluka and Evans Head, its campgrounds, and the Iluka rainforest.
History: reserves and land rights
The Protection Board years, the reserves and stations, and where to look for family records.
Parks, sacred places and walks
Jointly managed parks, places custodians ask you to treat with care, and Aboriginal-led walks.