FIRST NATIONS COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE

YARRA RANGES SHIRE COUNCIL INDIGENOUS DEVELOPMENT TEAM Return of the Firesticks Project

Traditional Aboriginal culture and lore achieved a natural equilibrium unmatched as a model of environmental sustainability over countless generations. One key tool was the sophisticated use of fire based on an intimate understanding of the environment and its ecosystems. A three-year partnership between the Firesticks Alliance Aboriginal Corporation and Yarra Ranges Shire Council has been empowering Traditional Owners to apply this knowledge to create resilient landscapes and communities in the Yarra Ranges while providing an alternative to damaging bushfire mitigation measures.

The primary objective of the partnership behind Yarra Ranges Shire Council’s Return of the Firesticks project was to support the local Wurundjeri Traditional Owners with their aspiration to reintroduce the ancient practice of cultural burning, also known as Firesticks, on landscapes within the Yarra Ranges.

The Project sought to share the depth of wisdom and connection with the environment that cultural burning brings, offering people the opportunity to reframe their relationship with the natural world, building pride in their First Nations heritage, reducing racism, and acting as an enabler of reconciliation to flourish.

Providing strong connections to Country and culture has been shown to be a critically effective methodology in improving Aboriginal health and wellbeing.

Through the practical application of Indigenous land management practices, the initiative has aimed to highlight the importance of healing Country in building resilience in both landscapes and community. While contemporary fuel reduction practices can often prioritise this reducing of fuel loads ahead of the health and wellbeing of landscapes, the practice of these burns can have a devastating impact on biodiversity, with heat intensity so severe that critical tree canopies can be left scorched. Advocacy linked to this project has been shifting long-held beliefs regarding traditional fuel reduction methodologies, highlighting the healing and resilience outcomes achieved instead by cultural burning practices.