Health of Country 2024

Aboriginal and ‘Eurocentric’ world views of the natural world have some commonalities but also important differences.

The term ‘Country’ is used by Aboriginal peoples to refer to everything in the landscape. It encompasses living (such as humans, plants and animals) and non-living entities (such as air, soil and rocks) and the relationships among them.

Aboriginal peoples understand that everything is connected. This includes ecological systems and biodiversity.

Aboriginal peoples have a moral, cultural and spiritual inheritance and obligation to protect Country (land, sea, sky) because Country is integral to the cultures of Aboriginal peoples. This includes caring for cultural sites, such as rock art, shell middens and scar trees (tangible cultural heritage). It also includes caring for ‘living culture’ by caring for places and landscapes and important plants and animals and maintaining cultural practices, such as Cultural Fire and sharing knowledge (intangible cultural heritage).

Caring for Country is more than just caring for the environment: it is taking care of Country as if it is kin.

The loss of biodiversity in Australia coincided with the removal and oppression of Aboriginal peoples, and the disruption of the holistic and symbiotic relationship between people and Country. Truth telling is part of healing. Country needs the truth to be told.

This topic covers how Aboriginal peoples value biodiversity, base their seasonal calendars on local environmental and weather patterns, apply Cultural Fire to improve the health of Country and strengthen connection to culture. It highlights Indigenous-led initiatives to care for Country.

While all species and ecosystems are valuable to Aboriginal people, culturally significant species are species and ecological communities that hold vital importance in Aboriginal cultures (termed Culturally Significant Entities in ). These species are totems and may provide food and medicine, indicate the health of Country and be considered as kin. Ensuring these species are healthy and cared for by Aboriginal people is critical to maintaining Aboriginal cultures and knowledges.

The current model for funding conservation of species and ecosystems in NSW uses ‘western’ values of prioritisation based on the conservation status of the species. They are formally classified as threatened under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 or the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999.

Some threatened species have been identified as culturally significant. It is likely that most culturally significant species are not on the threatened species list and therefore not eligible for most existing sources of funding.

Culturally significant species that are also classified as threatened may be eligible for funding under the Saving Our Species program. Under this program, a conservation strategy is developed for a threatened species. The strategy outlines the actions needed to secure the species in the wild based on western scientific assessments.

Some on-ground conservation projects include engagement with Aboriginal peoples. There is an identified need to expand and formalise this and ensure these species are managed appropriately with the leadership and input of Aboriginal peoples and in a place-based way.

The cultural importance of plants, animals and ecosystems varies according to place. For this reason, the protection, restoration or management of culturally significant species and use of traditional knowledges to manage these species must be place based and led by local Aboriginal communities.

The use and application of traditional knowledge must always follow international agreements and principles, including Free Prior and Informed Consent and respect for Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property ().

In many places across NSW, culturally significant species are at risk or are no longer found on Country. This has led to significant cultural disruption within Aboriginal communities (see the excerpt from Barkandji Elder, William (Badger) Bates below). It has also impacted the condition of ecosystems ().

Image B3.1 shows a brolga in the Macquarie Marshes.

There is a recognised need to create culturally appropriate opportunities for Aboriginal peoples to be involved in decision-making about biodiversity (; ).

Examples of current representation on NSW biodiversity-focused committees:

• The NSW Koala Strategy established an Aboriginal Advisory Panel in 2022, and as of July 2024 is has over 70 members.
• The Biodiversity Conservation Trust Board includes an Aboriginal member and has since the Biodiversity Conservation Trust commenced in 2017–18.
• The Saving Our Species program Board has one identified position, which as of July 2024 is vacant.
• The Biodiversity Conservation Advisory Panel as of October 2024 includes two Aboriginal panel members.
• The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee as of July 2024 does not have any identified positions or members who represent Aboriginal perspectives.

In 2022, the Threatened Species Scientific Committee and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (then Department of Planning and Environment) jointly identified the need for threatened species conservation assessments and final determinations to include Aboriginal Traditional Ecological Knowledge. This was in recognition of the importance of Aboriginal language, kinship and cultural practice in understanding the place of species in Country (distribution, ecology and threats) and culture (uses, stories and kinship).

A guideline for project officers has been developed. It outlines culturally appropriate ways of incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Aboriginal cultural values into conservation assessments (). Key elements of the guideline include:

• protecting Indigenous cultural and intellectual property
• procedures for appropriately making contact and building relationships with Aboriginal peoples
• a new method for referencing Aboriginal knowledges
• useful references and resources
• standard text for incorporation in conservation assessments.

The guideline was piloted on the conservation assessment for magenta lilly pilly (Syzygium paniculatum) (see Image B3.2). This is a species with a distribution strongly linked to the use and transport by Aboriginal people. It has also been applied to the assessment of coastal emu (see Case study B3.1 below).

These recent efforts aim to provide formal mechanisms for Aboriginal peoples to be involved in decision making or to be engaged on existing projects at a local scale.

It is recognised that additional structural and governance issues must be addressed in order to fully support Aboriginal peoples to undertake their cultural obligations with respect to caring for Country.

Independent review of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act

An independent review of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 was conducted in 2023. The review identified 'the need to better recognise the intrinsic relationship between biodiversity and Aboriginal culture, and embed Aboriginal participation at all levels – advisory, decision-making, implementation and delivery' ().

In addition, the review found that 'The Act does not adequately recognise the rights, culture and economic aspirations of Aboriginal people and communities' ().

The review panel heard that the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme is creating a financial barrier for Aboriginal peoples who want to realise social and economic aspirations from managing their lands.

In response, the NSW Government committed to 'exploring, in partnership with Aboriginal stakeholders, new and better ways to support Aboriginal people to connect with and care for Country' ().

The NSW Government also committed to undertake tailored engagement with Aboriginal organisations, communities and people. The aim is to ensure their views, knowledge, values and interests underpin the development and implementation of actions and initiatives under this response. This includes:

• legislative reform to prioritise Aboriginal cultural values
• inclusion of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the application of Environmentally Sustainable Development and strategic land use planning
• engaging Aboriginal organisations and communities to design natural and cultural capital support products that value traditional knowledge and reflect their needs and aspirations.

The response does not address how to include more Aboriginal people in decision-making. For example, it did not establish an Aboriginal advisory group or commit to ensuring identified positions for Aboriginal representation on relevant boards and committees, such as the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee.

There is an emerging opportunity for Aboriginal landowners (organisations and individuals) to seek funding from the Biodiversity Conservation Trust for conservation works on their lands through the Cultural Biodiversity Conservation Offer.

This offer is designed to support biocultural conservation with expanded criteria for funding. This included protection or restoration of culturally significant species.

The application process has been redesigned in response to advice from Aboriginal landowners and managers so it better suits Aboriginal applicants.

The Biodiversity Conservation Trust has also developed a Respect and Recognition Guide for its programs. This provides support to all landowners in the programs to learn from local Aboriginal communities and knowledge holders about the cultural values of their properties and how to protect them. It also guides Biodiversity Conservation Trust staff in undertaking due diligence. This is resulting in better relationships between local Aboriginal communities and landowners and improving access to Country.

Aboriginal peoples have lived in harmony with nature for millennia, maintaining a spiritual connection with and deep respect for ancestral lands ().

Aboriginal peoples determine seasons by observing animal behaviours, floristics (plant identification and classification), weather cycles and patterns and celestial patterns. These observations can result in recognising up to six seasons each year.

Aboriginal peoples gain insight into climate changes by monitoring seasonality over long time scales. It is through this understanding that Aboriginal peoples adapt to changes, manage the land and ensure food sustainability ().

As Australia’s first scientists, Aboriginal peoples have embedded environmental management practises in cultures. By closely observing and relating to the environment, knowledge is created about when food is ready to harvest, when animals are breeding and how to prepare communities for seasonal changes. This traditional knowledge underpins the sustainability of food supplies and supports cultural activities.

Unlike the western four-season calendar (summer, autumn, winter, spring), Aboriginal people’s relationship with weather and climate is based on knowledge acquired through thousands of years of observation passed down through intergenerational transfer. This knowledge is specific to each time and place.

The plants, animals, landscapes and weather systems of each Country are unique. This requires localised and specific knowledge of how to care for each Country.

Seasonal cycles are based on observations of weather patterns, animal migrations and plant flowering or timing of reproduction.

This detailed understanding of Country along with knowledge systems and an understanding of sustainable resource management allows Aboriginal people to live sustainably and in harmony with their environment.

The Banbai Fire and Seasonal Calendar () is an example of this intricate understanding. It describes three distinct fire seasons:

• wildfire time – wet and hot and becoming warm (November to March)
• grass cures – dry becoming cool (April to mid-May)
• burning time – dry and cold to frosty (mid-May to June).

Seasonal, or Cultural, calendars embed traditional practices within communities and support environmental management decisions in Aboriginal communities. They are also a modern framework for intergenerational knowledge transfer and can support work planning for environmental management programs.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has incorporated Aboriginal weather knowledges for various locations across Australia on their website. This includes Dharawal seasonal descriptions for the Sydney area.

There is an opportunity for collaboration with other Aboriginal Nations throughout NSW to explore the management potential of Aboriginal seasonal calendars. These calendars can be utilised (with respect for Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property principles) to guide specific activities on Country. These include hazard-reduction activities, biodiversity surveys and citizen science activities. They act as a unifying foundation for monitoring in each bioregion.

Aboriginal peoples’ knowledge of seasons, based on observations of Country, have been found to be more appropriate than the traditional four seasons for interpreting pollution data. For example, the Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry group at the University of Wollongong is drawing on Aboriginal knowledge of weather cycles to better understand seasonal variability in Sydney’s air quality ().

Two pressures impact culture and knowledge systems and the ability to integrate these into management of natural systems:

• Pressures of development (urban and agricultural), land clearing, invasive species, climate change and loss of biodiversity have meant that some seasonal cues are no longer seen. This is especially true for cues related to insect abundance, such as lack of Christmas beetles, bogong moths and fireflies.
• Lack of access to Country means that seasonal cues cannot be observed.

Education is needed to improve our understanding of the multiple threats that result in changes to seasonal indicators and how to respond to restore habitats and ecosystem functions.

It is important that all land and water managers listen to and incorporate Aboriginal knowledges. They must also identify, respect and protect tangible and intangible cultural heritage and recognise local seasonal cues. This should follow Indigenous Intellectual and Cultural Property principles and ensure that place-based approaches are taken.

Image B3.3 shows how the story of scrub turkeys, a totem species for Gamilaraay People, is told through sculpture in Deriah Aboriginal Area near Narrabri supporting knowledge sharing and education for the public and land managers.

Cultural Fire management is a cultural practice that Aboriginal peoples use to care for Country. It reflects a deep connection and understanding of Country, as well as an inherent responsibility to care for Country that is passed down through generations.

Cultural Fire outcomes are diverse and include reducing the risk of bushfires, promoting and strengthening connection to culture and promoting broad environmental benefits. Notably, many native plant species rely on fire to thrive and there is known water quality benefits.

Aboriginal peoples’ use of fire, including the exclusion of fire from some places, has shaped the Australian landscape and its ecology.

As an ongoing result of colonisation, the practice of Cultural Fire management is impacted through the dispossession of Aboriginal lands, decline of language speakers, disruption to knowledge sharing and systemic barriers to accessing Country. Despite these challenges, Aboriginal peoples are leading the revival of Cultural Fire management throughout Australia, including in NSW over recent years.

Understanding and support for Cultural Fire management is increasing across government agencies and within the broader mainstream community. There remains significant challenges for Aboriginal peoples in implementing Cultural Fire, including regulatory barriers, broad lack of acceptance and recognition of the benefits, application processes and related insurance constraints.

One of the drivers accelerating the revival of Cultural Fire management in NSW is a renewed interest in Aboriginal land management practices following the Black Summer bushfires of 2019–2020.

The final report of the NSW Bushfire Inquiry made two recommendations relating to Cultural Fire management (), both of which are being implemented. First, the NSW Government created a Cultural Fire Management Unit in 2021 with Aboriginal Cultural Fire expertise and advised by an Aboriginal Working Group. Second, the NSW Bush Fire Coordinating Committee as of 2020 includes representation from three Aboriginal organisations: the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, the Native Title Services Corporation Limited and a representative to promote the integrity of Cultural Burning.

Cultural Fire management is also undertaken on Aboriginal controlled lands, such as Indigenous Protected Areas, and on public and private lands with Cultural Burning activities led by Aboriginal communities.

Firesticks is an Indigenous-led organisation that promotes and supports the revitalisation of Cultural Burning ().

Firesticks Alliance

Firesticks Alliance has been supporting communities across NSW in the revival of fire knowledges and Cultural Fire management since 2018 by providing learning tools for communities to lead and determine the best way forward to manage and heal their own Country.

Southern Yuin

The Southern Yuin Firesticks team has been mentoring First Nations peoples across Djiringanj/Walbunga, and the broader Yuin nation in cultural land management.

Throughout 2023, a total of 20 Cultural Fire workshops attended by over 90 community members were delivered within the region across various land tenures, including national parks.

Current community priorities involve continued collaboration with the Biamanga and Gulaga Boards of Management to restore a traditional fire regime across the Gulaga and Biamanga cultural landscape. This has the potential to change legislative guidelines that currently restrict cultural land management practices. In particular, monitoring and data collection on Country will formulate the evidence required to recognise Gulaga and Biamanga landscapes as significant cultural assets to be managed by community and Indigenous ranger teams.

The Southern Yuin Firesticks team continues to work alongside the NSW Koala Strategy to support cultural monitoring of one of the last-known coastal koala populations between the NSW and Victorian border. The information gained from this work will be crucial to understanding koala movement, seasonality and population variability across Country types.

See the Firesticks webpage about the Southern Yuin community for more information.

Greater Sydney

Various partnerships have been developed for the purpose of introducing Cultural Fire and other Indigenous land management practices into the Greater Sydney region, through a 2-year mentorship program.

Firesticks has built strong partnerships across Dharawal, Dharug and Gundungurra nations and is currently mentoring 18 community members as part of the Indigenous Fire and Land Management Mentoring program.

Lead Fire Practitioners are also assisting with the delivery of burn workshops outside the mentoring program, across a range of Country types.

See the Firesticks webpage about the Greater Sydney community for more information.

Hunter NSW

Firesticks has been working with communities in the Hunter region since 2016 when the Biraban Local Aboriginal Land Council collaborated with local groups to return Cultural Fire to land in Morisset for the first time since colonisation. This sparked a pilot program led by four Local Aboriginal Land Councils to engage Firesticks in a series of Cultural Burns over four years.

In 2020, the first mentoring program began in the Hunter region which culminated in the recognition of 22 new Cultural Fire Practitioners in 2023.

Throughout their mentorship, practitioners engaged in a series of interactive projects on Country, including the development of an interpretative signage guided tour that showcases their efforts to revive Cultural Fire practice.

See the Firesticks webpage about the Hunter community for more information.

Central West NSW

Firesticks has been supporting communities across Central West NSW to develop their leadership and skills in Indigenous fire practices.

Fifteen aspiring Cultural Fire Practitioners are currently being mentored through the mentoring program on Wiradjuri Country. The program has enabled knowledge exchange between Indigenous communities and supported Elders and local community members.
Firesticks has also established partnerships with local schools and youth services to support Aboriginal students through on-Country learning opportunities, ensuring the passing down of knowledge to the next generation.

Recently, other public land managers have been supporting the implementation of Cultural Burns on public lands, national parks and reserves. These managers include Forestry Corporation of NSW, Crown Lands and the NPWS.

Cultural Fire management has economic, social, health and wellbeing benefits. Further benefits include self-determination, strengthened culture and improved environmental outcomes and bushfire management ().

Image B3.4 shows a Cultural Burn on Djirringanj Yuin Country.

There is growing interest in, and support for, revitalisation of Cultural Fire management in some sectors. There are still significant barriers to undertaking Cultural Burns in a culturally appropriate way (; ).

These barriers span legislative, policy and procedural settings. There is also a lack of understanding of and respect for Aboriginal cultural knowledges.

Outlined below are some of the most significant barriers and opportunities to resolve them.

Significant barriers exist within the approval and regulatory processes, which often do not align with Cultural Fire practices. These include restrictive legislation, inappropriate regulations and thresholds and a lack of understanding of Cultural Fire ().

These barriers lead to counterproductive conditions that do not align with cultural practices. Examples are fire taking place at the wrong time and under the wrong conditions, and requirements for excessive qualifications for Aboriginal community members undertaking the burn.

A lack of understanding and appropriate policies also results in prohibitive insurance costs for communities ().

Cultural Burns undertaken by Aboriginal community members or organisations are documented as hazard reduction burns and require the same environment assessment and permits. This is despite them being very different from hazard reduction burns.

Video B3.1 provides an example of using Cultural Fire to manage Country.

Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations are generally required to obtain permits from the Rural Fire Service. The exceptions are when the burn is done outside the fire danger season, is not deemed to be a risk to property and occurs within a Rural Fire District. Sometimes permits are also required from the NSW Environment Protection Authority within this same framework.

Aboriginal community representatives have asked for an approval pathway for Cultural Fire that is flexible, is fit for purpose and recognises what a Cultural Burn is. This would include recognition of the leadership of Aboriginal people and the cultural knowledge and expertise applied.

There is a need for increased awareness about what Cultural Burning entails. This is especially the case in the context of incorporating Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property principles.

Opportunities also exist for partnerships between Aboriginal organisations and fire practitioners, regulators and researchers to improve understanding and practice.

Current policy and legislation around fire management is not framed to recognise or achieve tangible and intangible cultural outcomes.

Ideally, fire management systems would recognise cultural landscapes as cultural assets. This would allow communities to use Cultural Fire to protect them in the way that hazard reduction fires are used to protect properties.

Aboriginal communities are calling for cultural knowledges to be included in fire management regimes. They are also calling for recognition of the beneficial application of Cultural Fire to maintain biodiversity and healthy ecosystems.

Fire frequency intervals for ecosystems and species are currently based on ecological impacts of hazard reduction or bushfires and require exclusion of fire for set intervals. Aboriginal knowledge holders know that Cultural Fire could be applied more frequently in some cases to enhance biodiversity outcomes. For example, this would suppress weeds, improve system function and health, improve soil health and structure and maintain habitat and food resources ().

It is important to recognise that cultural protocols embedded in Cultural Burning ensure the application of right fire in the landscape to reduce risk and support multiple benefits.

Opportunities exist for Indigenous communities to receive economic benefits from fire management by engaging in carbon markets, especially in northern Australia.

Aboriginal communities have asked for pathways in NSW to gain benefits from carbon or nature repair markets through Cultural Fire activities.

There are real prospects in NSW to identify economic opportunities with Aboriginal people by recognising the value of the expertise of Cultural Fire practitioners in all processes around Cultural Fire. This could include a fee for service for Aboriginal Peoples working on public and private lands and appropriate and affordable insurance provisions.

Efforts are being made to address barriers and further support the obligations of Aboriginal communities to practice Cultural Fire.

• The Bushfire Hazards Cooperative Research Centre has published a report () and six posters that present six diverse personal Cultural Burning experiences from Aboriginal custodians and traditional owners across southern Australia. These aim to help dispel misunderstandings about fire management practices used by Aboriginal peoples.
• The Healthy Country Team in the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (formerly the Cultural Fire Management Unit in the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure) is developing a Cultural Fire Strategy. It has funded 10 community-led Cultural Fire projects in NSW.
• The NSW Rural Fire Service (NSWRFS) is developing a Cultural Burning Guide to support Aboriginal communities navigate requirements, such as permits and approval pathways.
• As of 2024, the NSWRFS has four Targeted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mitigation Crews (16 positions) that work particularly in partnership with Crown Lands. An additional 30 Targeted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Mitigation positions exist outside the partnership with Crown Lands. All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mitigation members assist with bushfire mitigation works. They also work with communities regarding culturally informed burning and Cultural Burning.

The NSWRFS and the NSW EPA are also looking for opportunities to reduce legislative and regulatory barriers.

Firesticks are partnering on research initiatives led by Indigenous communities across Australia to:

• increase understanding of the benefits of Cultural Burning
• identify and address the current legislative and insurance barriers limiting the scaling of Cultural Burning
• support the development of culturally sound methods for equitable engagement in carbon and nature repair markets.

There are increasing efforts to develop meaningful indicators of Cultural Fire. Firesticks supports communities to document and record their cultural-bio indicators and monitor the results of Cultural Fires.

Further work is needed to determine if and how Aboriginal communities want to tell the story of Cultural Fire. Before any reporting of this information, issues of data governance and sovereignty would need to be addressed.

The NSW Bushfire Inquiry () noted how important it is that Aboriginal land management practices are led by Aboriginal people with the support of government agencies.

Aboriginal peoples have successfully cared for Country for over 60,000 years. The responsibility to care for Country through kinship relationships with Country, cultural practices, language and Lore continues to this day.

Aboriginal peoples are often frustrated by lack of access to Country and ongoing environmental damage from unsustainable development. Community-led Aboriginal land and water management programs provide opportunities for Aboriginal peoples to have access to Country and care for Country in the way they see fit.

Indigenous communities across Australia have driven the resurgence of Indigenous involvement and leadership in land and sea management over many decades. This includes the establishment of Indigenous Protected Areas and Indigenous Ranger Programs led by communities.

These programs are highly successful and have been shown to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits improving the lives of Indigenous peoples and improving environmental outcomes that benefit all Australians ().

Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) were designed in 1997 at a national meeting of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples. IPAs were defined by the meeting as follows:

At the meeting, it was agreed that IPAs would contribute towards Australia’s National Reserve System.

The National Reserve System (NRS) in Australia is a network of protected areas that conserves the country’s ecosystems, biodiversity, and landscapes, including national parks, nature reserves and Indigenous Protected Areas. It aims to protect a comprehensive range of ecosystems, ensure their sustainability, and involve collaborative management between governments, Indigenous communities and landowners ().

Across Australia IPAs now make up more than 50% of the National Reserve System ().

In NSW, as at August 2024, there were 11 declared IPAs in NSW and four IPA consultation projects or areas under consideration for funding ().

Many Aboriginal people work as rangers and field officers and in other roles in a number of NSW government land and sea management agencies working on Country or towards the health of Country.

The focus of this section is describing and documenting Aboriginal community-led Indigenous Ranger groups in NSW.

The Commonwealth Indigenous Ranger Program started in 2007. It offers grants to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities establish Indigenous Ranger groups.

This program funds more than 120 individual Indigenous Ranger groups across Australia. Fifteen of these are in NSW. These consist of 10 Indigenous Ranger groups and five Murray Darling Basin River Ranger groups ()

In 2023, the Commonwealth Government committed to expanding this program to double the number of Indigenous Rangers to 3,800 by 2030.

Indigenous Rangers use cultural and local knowledge and their connection to Country to protect and manage land and sea Country. Their work includes:

• protecting biodiversity
• controlling feral animals and invasive weeds
• reducing bushfire risk
• maintaining cultural sites and practices.

Most Australian states and territory governments also fund and support community-led Indigenous Ranger Programs. The exceptions are NSW and Victoria.

As at June 2024, funding from the National Indigenous Australian Agency for Indigenous Rangers in NSW supports the employment of 97.55 fulltime equivalent staff. An expansion of the program was announced in late 2024, with a commitment to create 1,000 new Indigenous Ranger jobs across Australia.

Indigenous Protected Areas and Indigenous Ranger programs are funded through a competitive grant process. The short-term and insecure nature of this funding model poses significant challenges for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations. Secure long-term funding would ensure the ongoing success of these programs.

Aboriginal people also face challenges in gaining access to Country in NSW. Existing regulations on lands and waters of different tenure can create barriers. For example, access to Crown land to care for cultural sites or places requires a formal permit application.

Additional long-term support for an Aboriginal Ranger program in NSW would allow Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to increase their capacity to care for Country and result in flow-on social and cultural benefits for local communities.