Warm welcome from Traditional Owners to new JCU building in Cairns
Traditional owners have today held a traditional smoking ceremony ahead of James Cook University staff moving into The Yeinie Building (formerly known as Cairns Tropical Enterprise Centre) in the heart of the Cairns CBD.
The completion of this $50m plus project is a huge boost for JCU and health services in Far North Queensland, with the four-storey building to house a multi-disciplinary clinic on the ground floor, with teaching and research facilities on the floors above.
Gimuy Walubara Yidinji elder Professor Henrietta Marie AM led the ceremony, which saw her and fellow traditional owners joined by JCU Chancellor Professor Ngiare Brown and JCU Vice Chancellor Professor Simon Biggs.
“The smoking ceremony is very important for Yidinji people, and it is all about cleansing the air and the environment that one is in,” she said.
“We burn native plants like lemon myrtle, paperbark and other species and use a traditional kuybuk, a fire stick, and then that smoke can carry through the new building and help take out any bad spirits or energy that is within the building.
“Before they first started construction on The Yeinie Building and turned the first sod we did a smoking chanting ceremony and now that the building has been constructed it’s important we come back and run the smoke through again.”
Professor Biggs said he was honoured to be present at the smoking ceremony to help mark this exciting new chapter for JCU in Far North Queensland.
“The smoking ceremony serves to connect people with their ancestors and the land, welcome visitors, and promote well-being, which perfectly aligns with our goals for The Yeinie Building,” he said.
“Today’s ceremony is a significant milestone and an important step as our staff prepare to move into this state-of-the-art facility and gear up to welcome students from next year.
“The Yeinie Building will bring together clinical teaching and service delivery as well as training and research in medicine, allied health and related disciplines, with everything aligned to the needs of the people in this region and its health workforce.”
Prof Brown said it was a special privilege to share such a strong and sustained relationship with the Traditional Owners of the Cairns region.
“The generosity of spirit of the local peoples, the gravitas of senior leaders such as Aunty Henrietta, and the millennia of wisdom shared not only strengthens JCU as an institution but enriches our every effort in support of the communities of far north Queensland,” she said.
“This ceremony also reminds us that health is not only physical, but dependent upon dimensions of cultural and social wellbeing.”
Nursing, medical and research staff moving into the newly completed Yeinie Building marks the beginning of a new era for JCU, with the entirety of the University’s nursing degree in Cairns to be taught from the purpose-built facility.
The Yeinie building will also provide a crucial learning space for JCU Medicine students in the last three years of their six-year degree and includes a two-bed demonstration ward set up for medical clinical skills demonstration, clinic consulting rooms and a 10-bed hospital ward.
It is situated alongside Cairns Hospital’s new surgical centre and part of the Far North Queensland Health Innovation Precinct, making it more central for students and keeping them closer to clinical services where they undertake professional placements.
JCU will hold a grand opening for The Yeinie Building early in 2026, where they will throw open the doors for the local community to come and see all that this state-of-art facility has to offer.