What does Gnibi mean

The name Gnibi was gifted to the College by Elders of the Bundjalung Nation.

Gnibi is the Bundjalung word for 'black swan'. It is also the name the Bundjalung people gave to the star system, or constellation, that early European explorers called the Southern Cross.

The term Gnibi refers both to the black swan, in the ecological sense of it being nurtured and fed by the water-ways (now called the Northern Rivers region of NSW), and as food it provided to feed Bundjalung families; and also in reference to the spiritual association between Gnibi (the constellation) and Bundjalung Country and Peoples.

Although the name of the University reflects its European origins, we have chosen to give our College its traditional Bundjalung name - Gnibi. We are deeply honoured that the Bundjalung Elders of this region have given us permission to use this name. In giving this name, the Elders say they wish to acknowledge and show respect for the Country and the People who are sustained by living within Bundjalung Country. Gnibi symbolises our identity and explains who we are, what we stand for, and why we are who we are.

Glossary

Ganna: Bundjalung - to hear, to think, to know, to understand.

Dreamings: encompasses Aboriginal worldviews or ways of knowing, being and doing that understands past, present and futures as part of the whole.

Sciences: disciplined bodies of knowledge. There are multiple disciplined bodies of knowledge including Indigenous sciences.

Spirituality: an experience of numinosity that deepens our sense of self and identity.

Community: has many different meanings, however it is used here to mean: 'A group in which free conversation can take place. Community is where I can share my innermost thoughts, bring out the depths of my own feelings, and know they will be understood. Communication makes community and is the possibility of human beings living together for their mutual psychological, physical and spiritual nourishment' (May 1976: 246/7).

Punyu: means wellbeing or being well, and is associated with being strong: strong, happy, knowledgeable, socially responsible (to 'take care of'), beautiful, clean, safe - both in the sense of being within the law/lore and in the sense of being cared for (Rose 2000: 65).

Country: is an Aboriginal English term which is used to describe the connection an Aboriginal person has in toto with the land and his or her identity.

Healing: is derived from the old English word 'haelan' meaning a return to wholeness and is used to denote the educational process of learning about the self and regional, national and international communities at deep levels of knowing and educational enrichment.

Updated: 27 May 2013