Tamworth's Walaaybaa Rangers share love of country in Bega

As smoke billowed upwards through bush near Tura Beach and ethereal rays of sunlight illuminated through "mother trees", Local Aboriginal Land Councils visiting from Tamworth and Coonabarabran were taking mental notes through hands-on experience.

A number of participants equipped with brushcutters carved the landscape to form containment lines, while others used blowers to remove debris and go back to bare earth, stopping fires from crossing.

Operations manager for Tamworth LALC, Terri Whitton said it was a perfect opportunity for their young team, the Walaaybaa Rangers, and said they had up-skilled but the chance to spend time with rangers from the Bega Valley was too big to miss.

"It's awesome to be out here with like-minded people who want to bring back traditional ways of caring for country, and be so willing to share that with us," Ms Whitton said.

Ms Whitton, a proud Kamilaroi woman, attended with four Walaaybaa Rangers, Junior ranger coordinator Jolene Faint and CEO of Tamworth LALC, Fiona Snape.

Coonabarabran's LALC left at 4am for their 700 kilometre hike, arriving in the Bega Valley at 2pm, but Barry Fuller, coordinator and supervisor, and proud Kamilaroi man, said he wouldn't have missed it for the world.

"It's unreal and very special, and it will be great to take it home to where we've come from and start to learn for ourselves and care for our country. It's pretty important for us and the country to be burning it, so we can't wait to be self-sufficient and do it ourselves," Mr Fuller said.

"To watch an actual first burn be done, it's very special, aye?"

Kamilaroi man, Pete Dixon, the project coordinator for Bega Local Aboriginal Land Council, said it was very important for indigenous people to link together, share knowledge and reinforce culture with both local mobs and mobs abroad.

After the initial burn, he said animals would move away from the area because they would smell the smoke and understand that as a sign of "danger".

Mr Dixon shared how critters coming out provided an indication of how fast the fire is moving, as "the fire shouldn't be moving quicker than them."

"Most people have a misconception that fire's so dangerous. They see it on the news with wildfires, but if you use fire the right way as a cultural resource, fire is your friend and there is nothing to be scared of," Mr Dixon said.

"We've used it for 60,000 years, and it's needed in the landscape, clears all the stuff off the ground that's not meant to be there and gives a chance for stuff that's naturally meant to be in the area to regrow and revitalise the area."

Mr Dixon said during his ancestors' time, everything was managed correctly with fire, and explained how the land was like a supermarket - you get your bread, milk, all sorts of stuff from different areas.

"You should be able to do that out on the land, an area for medicine, tools, and grass weaving. But you can't do that nowadays because all the bush state is not natural," he said.

"Us doing cultural burning, hopefully we will be able to make a change to revert the bush back to its natural state."