Ella Bay lies within the traditional country of the Mamu peoples, an Australian Aboriginal tribe with a number of distinctive clan groups. These clan groups have cultural and spiritual ties to coastal lowlands, coastal lands and waters within what is now known as the northern part of the Cassowary Coast region of north eastern Queensland, Australia. Before colonisation, Mamu people moved seasonally within their traditional country, accessing and using important food sources including seafoods, freshwater fish, game animals, rainforest fruits and roots. Certain plant species used by rainforest Aboriginal tribes in this area on a regular basis are highly toxic, and careful preparation using time honoured methods were employed to make these food sources safe for eating. During particular seasons, these toxic foods would form a staple of the tribes' diets. In some locations, early European visitors (for example the anthropologist Roth) recorded seeing communal settlements with multiple shelters including long-house type structures, and there is evidence that a taro-type species of yam was cultivated for regular harvest along creeks and rivers. Like so many Aboriginal people in Australia, many Mamu traditional owners were forcibly removed from their traditional lands to other places in Queensland including Cherbourg, Woorabinda, Yarrabah and Palm Island mission settlements. Some have come back to live in the area since the mid-20th century.