Tulmur: Deep Time

Ipswich City Council respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners as custodians of the land and waters we share. We pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging, as the keepers of the traditions, customs, cultures and stories of proud peoples.

Ipswich, which is known traditionally in the Yagara language as Tulmur, has been home to Aboriginal people since before the beginnings of recorded European settlement. Aboriginal peoples owned, had sovereignty over and cultivated the lands, waters, flora and fauna of Ipswich. Aboriginal peoples mapped the terrain and the stars, made laws and held Government and maintained their connection to their country through song, dance, language and stories.

First Nations Peoples lived in Tulmur (Ipswich) for generations - tens of thousands of years - before colonisation. 

Deep Time questions the western understanding of history as a linear timeline with a definite beginning and events that occur in chronological order. Deep Time challenges us to consider time as a continuous cyclical experience, with no beginning and end, looking back while also looking forward.

To tell the story of Ipswich, we need to tell the story of Tulmur and its peoples.