Introduction

In spite of the radical changes they have suffered in the course of the last fifty years and their slow and dramatic incorporation of Western lifestyles, the Australian Aborigines still preserve many elements that speak for their traditions. What makes them Aboriginal is not so much the type of activity they carry out nowadays as how they carry them out. In the case of the forest peoples of the north-east, some elements of the landscape have disappeared-a large part of the region has been deforested-, but it is still the same territory and its significance is unchanged (although new meanings have been added to places on the basis of the events experienced). The Jambun community, in the north-east of the state of Queensland, is located in traditional Dyirbal territory-forest peoples-and lives in a small part of this area, although according to Australian law it does not own it. The area they occupy and the surrounding area has been invaded by fields of bananas and mangoes and national parks, and to reach their sacred sites they have to ask for permission form the farmers, the legal owners of the land where these sites are located. Both see themselves as the owners, some legally and the others too, but under a law that is not officially recognised.