Members of the Narooma-area Koori community recently underwent basic firefighting training with an eye to start an indigenous cultural burning program on Gulaga Biamanga country.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Among those participating was Gulaga Biamanga National Parks indigenous boards of management member Cat Thomas who felt elated that the practice of cultural burning was now being accepted by authorities.
There was now a real possibility of getting some burning done on her own traditional lands around Gulaga Mountain and the Biamanga area toward Bermagui, she said.
“Well done and congrats to all, we did it,” she posted on Facebook. “We are now on the road to do cultural burning on country, woohoo.”
Ms Thomas said the fire training was “awesome” and encouraged any young Koori person interested in getting back to country to get involved with the training and cultural burning program through the boards of management.
Any future burning would be coordinated with National Parks’ existing hazard reduction program, but it was hoped that the boards could develop their own cultural burning program by next autumn, she said.
Community safety officer with NSW RFS Far South Coast team, Marty Webster said about 14 people participated in the four-day training program, learning basic firefighters skills used by RFS brigades.
Some of the Tilba RFS brigade members assisted in the training, providing equipment and a fire truck, while also participating were personnel from the RFS and National Parks.
“We are really supportive of cultural burning programs and want to facilitate it happening here,” Mr Webster said. “This training is one of the first steps, providing practical skills.”
The recent training and discussions with the indigenous community was also a chance for an exchange of knowledge as to the traditional cultural burning techniques used over thousands of years, he said.
Moves are also underway to start an ongoing cultural burning program at Wallaga Lake, specifically at Salty Lagoon.
Merrimans Local Aboriginal Land Council board member and traditional owner of the Djiringanj people Gary Campbell said, before European colonisation, cultural burns would have occurred in the winter, not summer to make sure the fires did not get out of control.
Cultural burns were undertaken at a site in small patches, for example 50m by 50m squares, in a mosaic pattern. Traditional owners did many small burns to reduce dead timber, create regrowth and encourage animals to return.
Ms Thomas said the small-scale burns encouraged bush tucker animals such a kangaroos, wallabies and potoroos to return to a specific area, while important food plants such as lomandra and native raspberry also benefited from low-intensity burning.
The lomandra plant was a main food source for the local Koori people, who not only ground up the seed to make flour but also chewed on the sweet stems to get energy when going on long walks.
Related story:
Stan Gorton
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
