In December 2020, the Firesticks Alliance held our first virtual conference with support from the WWF-Australia through the Australian Wildlife & Nature Recovery Fund. The purpose of the virtual conference was to keep connection and momentum growing across Cultural Fire practitioner groups who are unable to gather face-to-face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual conference was also an important […]
Collaborative research supported by the Firesticks Alliance was published in international scientific journal Human Ecology in December. Co-authors the Banbai Rangers, Lesley Patterson (Banbai Elder), Michelle McKemey (PhD candidate UNE), Oliver Costello (Firesticks), Emilie Ens (Macquarie University), Nick Reid, John Hunter, Mal Ridges and Cara Miller (UNE) produced the paper entitled Cross-cultural monitoring of a cultural […]
Welcome to RIGHT COUNTRY – RIGHT FIRE, a podcast about how Australia’s Indigenous people use fire to care for country.
For tens of thousands of years, fire has been used as a medicine for the earth – the right fire in the right place at the right time can restore environmental balance.
The early European settlers brought […]
Registrations are now open for the South-east Australia Aboriginal Fire Forum. The Forum, titled Cultural Burning: Evolving with community and Country, will give participants the opportunity to network, learn, and establish collaborations with others committed to cultural burning and caring for Country. The Forum will be held at the Ann Harding Centre, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT […]
The Ngunya Jargoon IPA rangers and staff have recently released their cultural calendar for the Nyangbul People of the Bundjalung Nation, Ballina and Cabbage tree Is. A cultural calendar provides insight into the cultural significant events, plants and animals that signal seasonal change in the landscape. It is not a static thing like a normal […]
Aboriginal people and those who work alongside them came together during February 2017 to share knowledge, ideas and experience at the Indigenous Natural Resource Management (NRM) Symposium at the University of New England: Restore, Regenerate, Revegetate conference. Over 400 scientists and practitioners from all over Australia and overseas came together to share their knowledge and experience […]
Until recently many Aboriginal people were denied access to their ancestral lands and the opportunities to manage Country in a way that preserves and enhances its cultural and ecological values and connectivity. This situation is changing with the creation of Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) around Australia including in North Eastern New South Wales, where Aboriginal land managers are directly involved in […]
Mt Mitchell is at the headwaters of the Sara River catchment within the Clarence River drainage, located near the crest of the Great Dividing Range on the New England Tablelands to the west of the extensive Guy Fawkes River gorge system. It falls within the Banbai Aboriginal Nation with numerous highly significant cultural features and […]
An initiative between Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), NCC Firesticks and local schools around Guyra NSW recently delivered an engaging and interactive learning program that connected children with Aboriginal elders, IPA Rangers and the local environment using storytelling, on-ground learning and arts and crafts. Around 100 children and accompanying teachers visited the property over three […]
An output of the PhD research conducted by Michelle McKemey from the University of New England with support from NCC Firesticks is the Winba = Fire, Fire and Seasons Calendar. This calendar has been developed collaboratively with the Banbai rangers from Wattleridge IPA and designed by Sian Hromek, Lyndal Harris and Jacqueline Gothe (UTS). Available […]
