Now you can make bookings and find out all about our art workshops and private art classes online.

Subscribe to our RSS feed (link is at the top above our menu) and follow Binna on Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news and events from Janbal Gallery.

There are plenty of high quality accommodation options in Mossman and just 20 minutes south is Port Douglas, home to dozens of five star luxury resorts, restaurants and golf courses.  Travel north for about the same amount of time and you can visit the Daintree Rainforest, home to the oldest living tropical rainforests on the planet.

Mossman

Mossman Gorge

Mossman Walking Tracks

Mossman Accommodation

The Daintree & Cape Tribulation

Accommodation

Things to do in the Daintree

Port Douglas

Accommodation

Things to do in Port Douglas

An ancient culture with an estimated age of 4000+ years, Kuku Yalanji country extends north from Mossman and past Cooktown, to the Annan River and West to Laura and the Palmer River in Cape York. Kuku Yalanji people speak a single language with only slight dialect variations between people from Eastern and Western areas.

Janbal Gallery is located in the southernmost part of of Kuku Yalanji country.

Native Rainforest People

Kuku Yalanji are coastal rainforest people who live in total dependence and harmony with nature and their environment.

Mossman Gorge and Earth’s oldest living tropical rainforests The Daintree Rainforest are at the heart of Kuku Yalanji country and are home to many of the sacred sites, bush foods and medicines upon which Kuku Yalanji people rely for ceremony and survival.

A people rich in culture and environmental based mythology, Kuku Yalanji define their calendar and seasons according to the life cycle of plants, mountains and water in the rainforest. By paying close attention to changes in their environment Kuku Yalanji know what foods are ready to eat, what medicines are ready to be gathered and when it is time to catch animals and fish.

Sharing Traditional Culture

The deep spirituality and innate synchronicity Kuku Yalanji people have with nature is passed from elders – fathers, grand fathers, mothers, uncles and aunties to children throughout their formative years so they know what belongs to them, and can continue to protect and this ancient culture share their traditions for many more generations to come.

We invite you to visit Janbal Gallery in Mossman and share our culture with us.

Found in the front garden and all around Janbal Gallery, Yiki People are Binna’s signature piece of artwork.

Yiki means Owl and Yiki People are traditional guardians of the night. They group themselves together for safety, warmth and to pass on the learnings of their ancestors.

Binna’s Yiki People remind us of the importance of fulfilling personal obligations and responsbilities whilst honoring the power and strength of family and the need to keep children safe and warm whilst we teach them morals and right ways.

Yiki People represent past and present ancestory spirits and are an important element of the spiritual Bama world. Binna paints these animals and the stories of their ancestory to preserve and rejuvenate the species for the benefit of future generations.

Janbal Gallery was named in honour of Binna’s mother, Shirley Janbal Swindley.

Janbal was inspired by her son Binna to pick up a brush and begin painting in 1990.

The following 10 years were an intensely creative time for Janbal and she produced a large variety of artworks depicting the flora, fauna and culture of Mossman and Kuku Yalanji country. Janbal’s favourite animal was the Ibis, a large white tropical bird with a long, thin black beak. Stories about the Ibis and it’s powerful large wings inspired a majority of Janbal’s works and most of the limited edition Janbal prints we have for sale in the gallery feature this large tropical bird.