Welcome to Boandik Country – Story, Season, and Spirit with Uncle Ken Jones
- Uncle Ken
- Feb 11, 2025
- 2 min read
Standing beside the twisted sandstone formations of Port MacDonnell’s Enchanted Forest, Uncle Ken Jones gently tells a story that stretches across thousands of years, a tale about sea level rise, living trees, and the ancestors who now live in the sea. This isn’t a scripted speech. It’s a lived connection. A moment passed down through generations.
In the SALIFE magazine feature “Welcome to Boandik Country,” Uncle Ken shares his approach to cultural storytelling and environmental education through his family-run business, Bush Adventures. For Ken, storytelling is an immersive, multi-sensory experience every tour he leads is shaped by wind, tide, sun, and the stories most needed in that moment.
Guests don’t just hear about Boandik culture, they taste it, touch it, walk it. Ken shows them bush medicines, edible plants, native flora, and sandy tracks that tell stories of animals and ancestors. No two tours are the same, but all are grounded in the same philosophy: Country teaches those who choose to listen.
Born in 1951 and raised near Port MacDonnell, Ken’s deep bond with land and sea began early. As a child, he hunted rabbits, fished for crayfish, and learned traditional knowledge from his family. In the 1980s and beyond, he worked as a fisherman, abalone diver, and later a fisheries and wildlife officer. His later years included environmental restoration projects through Bush Repair, and tours that now attract schools, councils, and cultural groups.
Through it all, Ken’s mission has remained clear: to care for the Country, and to keep culture alive by teaching others to do the same.
What sets Uncle Ken apart is his warmth, humour, and ability to connect across generations. Whether he’s guiding 880 schoolkids in one day or mimicking birds to get a laugh, he’s just as comfortable among children as he is hosting state dignitaries.
His stories carry weight. One moment you’re learning about a native fig plant; the next, he’s showing you the exact warren where he uncovered his grandfather’s old rabbit-setter hoe buried in the same soil where his family hunted generations before.
Uncle Ken believes stories are how we embed knowledge in our children. “If you repeat a story often enough,” he says, “it becomes part of who they are.” But it’s got to be interesting. “Boring one-pagers aren’t my style,” he grins.
As he recovers from a recent health scare, Ken is thinking more about legacy. With four children, he hopes his sons Flint and Lincoln will one day lead Bush Adventures, sharing the stories passed down from their family and ancestors.
For now, Uncle Ken continues doing what he does best, walking Country, telling stories, and reminding every guest that the real wealth of Boandik culture lives in its people, its places, and the power of remembering.
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