Cultural Burning is an Indigenous led process with local Aboriginal people with the knowledge and Cultural authority (of this place) leading the burn and leading the process. Vanessa Cavanagh
Cultural burning is a term used to describe burning practices used by First Nations people to enhance the health of land and its people. It incorporates both burning and prevention of burning with both angles playing a role in species protection and enhancement, patch burning to stagger fire intervals across the country or hazard reduction.
These controlled, cool burns only take place when temperatures and conditions are right. They assist in bringing back life to the bush plants which rely on fire to thrive and reduce the dry fuel load on the ground which causes devastating bushfires in the summer months. The recent burning will assist in protecting our own, and our neighbours, properties in future hot weather conditions.
Also known as ‘the good fire’, cultural burning plays a role in accessibility to, and management of, cultural heritage sites. Culturally fire plays a ceremonial role in welcoming people to Country and as a gathering place.
Bundanon developed a partnership with the locally based Mudjingaalbaraga Firesticks team, the National Firesticks Alliance and the NSW Rural Fire Service in 2017. The first year of the partnership involved extensive walks across Country as the Indigenous fire practitioners read the land. Several small burns were implemented to begin treating the Land, to establish Bundanon’s confidence in the practices and for young Indigenous people to learn from mentors and leaders. Dozens of Indigenous men, women and children participated in these activities alongside members of the Bundanon team.
Over subsequent years the partnership has grown strongly. Cultural burns have been implemented each Autumn/Winter when conditions were right the varied landscape.
In 2019 the partnership successfully gained funding from the NSW Environmental Trust’s Restoration and Rehabilitation Program to incorporate Cultural burning into a range of practices to restore the endangered Riverflat Eucalypt Forests at Haunted Point.
Our young fellas stood tall, and walked alongside with the fire from the first day of ignition until the fire rested to acknowledge, reflect and allow the healing process to continue. – Noel Webster
National Indigenous Fire Workshop 2018
In 2018, the National Indigenous Fire Workshop was held outside of Cape York for the first time in its 10-year history. Hosted on Yuin Country by the Mudjingaalbaraga Firesticks team, the workshop was held at Bundanon over 4 days, bringing together participants from Napranum, Cape York to Truwana in Tasmania and as far west as the APY Lands in Central Australia to share Cultural knowledge, techniques and understanding.
Workshop participants learned first-hand how to read Country, animals, trees, seasons, and understand the cultural responsibility of looking after Country.
Healing of Country took place and a special relationship with the landscape and Aboriginal communities from afar was formed with the reintroduction of cultural fire on Yuin Country. Our young fellas stood tall, and walked alongside with the fire from the first day of ignition until the fire rested to acknowledge, reflect and allow the healing process to continue.
A total of 150 Ha was treated with fire over 14 days… Over 35 years of fire fuel on the ground surface, no native grasses to hold the moisture from the dew and frost to extinguish the fire with natural containment.
Walking alongside the fire was empowering, seeing light filtered through an untouched or harmed canopy to open space to provide a germination processes for our native ground covers, thick blankets of leaf litter no longer suppressing the earth and dominating landscape.
Communities coming together, sharing knowledge, stories and networks, strengthening culture fire alliances across the country. So many great stories to tell and memories to cherish for a life time, I am grateful to the firestick effort that has provided me with the inspiration, drive, motivation and passion to continue in my endeavors to have our cultural fire practices and knowledge well respected, understood and undertaken to heal people, communities and Country.
Walawarni (safe journey)
Noel Webster, Mudjingaalbaraga Firesticks Team, Aboriginal Community Support Officer, South East Local Land Services.
