Ash Bolt
A pilot training program will see members of the Wadawurrung community develop their fire management skills and share their knowledge of traditional burning with fire management specialists in the region.
The training was designed by Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) and the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation and will be delivered for the first time this month.
Twelve members of the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation began the training at Anglesea earlier this month, building their capacity to use planned fire for cultural practices on public and private land.
The training aims to combine the fire knowledge of FFMVic and the Wadawurrung community, who are the traditional owners of the land around Geelong and the Otways, as one of the first steps to reintroducing traditional burning.
FFMVic Otway district manager David Roberts said there was a lot of knowledge traditional owners had to share with firefighters.
“We’re committed to increasing community capacity to carry out cultural burning, and this training is another step towards managing Country in partnership with traditional owners,” he said.
“We know that fire has always been a part of the Victorian landscape. As such, we value the wealth of cultural fire knowledge held by traditional owners and this opportunity to exchange insights around fire.”
Based on a nationally accredited firefighter training course, the program covers a range of topics such as fire behaviour, fire suppression and ecological outcomes and acknowledges that traditional owners used fire as a tool to manage the land for tens of thousands of years.
“Traditional owners carry out cultural burning for reasons associated with caring for Country, including keeping the land safe from extreme fires, promoting revegetation and maintaining connection with Country,” Wadawurrung cultural fire officer Blair Gilson said.
Participants will have the opportunity to share their cultural burning knowledge with fire management specialists involved in the training to develop FFMVic’s understanding of cultural burning.
The training was designed after the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation identified a need to build knowledge and skills that would lead to an increase in cultural fire practices on Country.
On completion, participants will be accredited to attend FFMVic planned burns, paving the way to lead their own cultural planned burns in the future.
