Pa la Nganthenduw.

We are the Kokoberrin People and hold stweardship and deep ancestral connection of the land between the Staaten River, east into the Staaten River National Park deeper in the Red River, beginning at the headwaters of the Lynd River, north adjoining the Kunjen and east up along the Nassau River. The boundary then extends into Yunggal (sea country) from both the Nassau and Staaten rivers east into the Gulf of Carpentaria. The extension is to the 3-mile Morning Glory.  

The recognition of the Kokoberrin within the Kowanyama native Title determination provides judicial acknowledgement of Kokoberrin continuity as part of the traditional society occupying the western Cape York claim area. The anthropological evidence accepted by the Federal Court did not conceptualise Aboriginal land tenure at the level of a broad community identity. Dr John Taylor, was engaged to research documented patrilineal family lines associated with clan estates, landscapes, totemic systems of land tenure and culturally constituted authority to speak for Country. The published determination details the legal aggregation of how the we hold connection to Country, as Kokoberrin people we hold ancestral knowledge and connection that overrides federal or state determination.

We have been documenting and reaffirming our clans' boundaries and ancestral significance for generations but in the last 3 decades, we have been working on significant intergenerational thrivance to documenting kokotharpal, our lore, and governance, with intention to continue the kinship obligations of early days and for the benefits of future Kokoberrin. We live within a complex relational system of governance, ecology and stewardship, grounded in kinship, land tenure and responsibility to all connected within customary lore, some maintained under the Ma Peal, cabbage palm string ceremony.