Tamworth Indigenous Rangers and Local Land Services prepping sites for upcoming cultural burnings

For Indigenous communities, it's about cultural rejuvenation and connecting with their history.

For the last few days Tamworth Local Aboriginal Rangers have been working with Local Land Services to prepare sites for upcoming cultural burns.

"It's mainly about practicing culture, that has been perceived as a dead culture. But, it's not dead, it's very much alive and living," Ranger Hank Flett said.

"Us being able to do cultural burns is proof that we are practicing culture and our culture is very much so alive."

Read also:

Indigenous Australians have been caring for country through similar sustainable land management practices for over 60,000 years.

Ranger Kaliela Thornton said the process involves creating small, controlled fires based on the landscape's needs.

The slow burn gives animals enough time to escape without causing any harm.

"It's important to our people to see the landscape, not return it to how it once was, but for it to thrive again. To reduce risk as hazardous fires create hardships for communities," she said.

"Also, the empowerment ... I understand how this can work and I see how I can protect the animals.

"I can see how to bring more animals in, and I've seen the product that the fire can do in a respectful way."

The stock grazing site being prepared is located 20 minutes outside of Tamworth, at Rocky Waterhole, which is also involved in a major land renewal project.

The preparations being completed over the next few days include creating mitigation lines to prevent the fire from jumping, and forming an in-depth fire plan with local firefighters for when the burnings happen.

Operations Manager of the Aboriginal Ranger Program Sam Des Forges said cultural burning also helps to minimise the risk of fires spreading throughout fire season.

"It's about managing the fuel load and reducing the fire risk in these locked up parcels. To make sure the fires we saw in the 2019/2020 fire season don't happen again," he said.

North West Senior Local Land Services Aboriginal Community Officer Luke Raveneau said cultural burnings bring the land back to life, as it revives native wildlife and encourages native habitats for them.

"The land itself is overgrown and has weeds ... it's good to do a cultural burn to get rid of all that and allow for the native plants to come back through," he said.

Over the next 12 months, the newly-formed Tamworth Indigenous Rangers hope to connect more with the community, give back through various projects, and further educate local residents.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: