The Coolabunia Bora Ring (or Booie Bora Ring) is the larger ring, being about 22 metres in diameter.
What Is A Bora Ring?
A bora ring is a circle or oval shape with a raised embankment. Bora grounds typically have two rings, one small and one large, but some have three rings. The rings are connected by a pathway, where a male would be led from the larger ring to the smaller ring to transition from boyhood to manhood.
Coolabunia Bora Ring
The ring was roped off and had signs providing information, but they are in extremely poor condition. Many of posts to fence it off are still there, but much of the rope is gone, and most of the words are not legible on the signs. Using photo editing software I was able to work out most of the text on one of the signs. It may not be 100% accurate, but it was close to the following:
BORA GROUNDS
Bora grounds were the stage for one of the most important ceremonies of aboriginal culture. It was here that young men were initiated into the tribal laws and customs which formed their way of life, the country in which they lived, and the laws that were imposed upon the men and women. For their continuing survival in this environment both girls and boys had to pass through an initiation ceremony but the most exacting and important was the bora ceremony for the young men of the tribe.A boys childhood was carefree and happy but once he had passed through the bora he had accepted the responsibility of manhood. The initiation ceremonies varied from tribe to tribe and few details are known. However we do know that pulling out of teeth, circumcision and scarring of parts of the body were of the tests that had to be passed by young men. These relics are all that remain of this important aboriginal culture and your co-operation is required to preserve them for posterity.
I started to have a look for the smaller ring but as I’d likely have to access private property I didn’t continue looking. I later found out the smaller ring has been lost, and the large ring is technically not the original bora ring.
We met an Aboriginal descendant of the area and learned some history of the bora ring. The original bora ring was bulldozed to make way for a road, Reagon Road. The road was made straight but now has a curved leg. The council(?) realised what they had done and redirected the road to the side where it is now, then rebuilt the bora ring.
Although the bora ring has been rebuilt, it still has significant meaning to the Aboriginal people. Some effort had been commenced to bring it back to a maintained state, and we were invited to come by to look at the improvements. I had mentioned in 2017 that the signage and fence was in a poor state. Updating the signage and fence this was part of the plans to bring the bora ring back to a presentable state. Unfortunately, when we dropped by in 2023, the effort had stalled due to some issues around being allowed to restore it and we have not heard if it has been resumed.
In 2025, we were travelling through and decided to have a look. There appears to have been more done on the site, in particular the grass inside the bora ring being burnt away. There is further clearing of the grass surrounding the outside of it as well. The signage and fence have not changed since we were there in 2023.