How we manage fire is an important conversation for rural and bush communities. What can we learn from how Aboriginal people used fire? Are those techniques applicable today in local landscapes that have changed a lot over the last 200 years?
In November 2018, the Newstead community ran two events focused on cultural burning. Find out more below.
Returning cultural burning – Djandak Wi – to Country
Public talk held on Thursday 29 November 2018 at the Newstead Community Centre.
After more than 170 years, the first cultural burns in our region were undertaken in May 2017 – one near Maryborough and the other in the Whipstick – and now another seven more have been completed.
Scott Falconer (Assistant Chief Fire Officer with FFMVic) shared his experience in the United States and Canada where he explored the involvement of Indigenous people in land and fire management. Scott’s research was supported through The Lord Mayor’s Bushfire Appeal Churchill Fellowship. He was accompanied by Trent Nelson, Dja Dja Wurrung man and Parks Victoria Ranger Team Leader for part of the research trip. Read more here
Reviving Indigenous Burning Practices in a Changed Landscape: Community Search Conference
One day Community Search Conference held on Friday 30 November at the Newstead Community Centre.
Expert panellists and local community members together explored how we might combine Western and Indigenous fire practice and knowledge in our local landscapes.
At this one-day event participants discussed how we could connect Indigenous fire traditions with current approaches to fuel reduction and planned burns to shape new ways to protect our landscape and communities. This event was free and open to anyone with an interest in this topic: community, government, academics, researchers. Read more here
For more information, go to Talking Fire on Facebook or our website https://talkingfire.org/. You can also read here about the 2016 Talking Fire event.
Talking Fire is a community initiative designed to create different kinds of community conversations about fire. This event was supported by the Mount Alexander Shire Council Community Grants Program.
Talking Fire 