Cultural burning practice revived in Deniliquin
Cultural burning has been a practice undertaken by Aboriginal people in Australia for thousands of years, and this week the practice will be revived in Murray Valley Regional Park, beginning on Saturday May 4.
This historic event is a collaborative effort between the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre Aboriginal Corporation Indigenous Rangers, NSW Fire and Rescue, Deniliquin High School, NSW Crown Lands, and Yarrabin Fire, a cultural fire company.
The Yarkuwa Rangers, accredited by the NSW Rural Fire Service in fire management, will apply a low intensity cool burn to a red gum landscape.
The rangers will continue to enhance their skills in cultural burning, to be able to continue burning here and other areas in the future. This will also provide an opportunity for Aboriginal community members to learn and apply cultural burning techniques using traditional fire-starting skills.
The site for the cultural burn has been used for many years by the Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre to educate the broader community on cultural plants and animals. A variety of native plants that are traditionally used for food, fibre, shelter, and medicine exist in the area. These culturally important plants include medical and resource plants like Old Man Weed, Ruby Salt Bush, Pin Rushes, River Mint, Vanilla Lily, Water Pepper and Water Ribbon.
Monitoring sites will be established to measure and record the recovery of native species after the cultural burn. It is also expected that the cultural burn will also reduce the presence of introduced weeds.
This burn is a continuation on ongoing NPWS program that supports and recognises cultural burning as a fundamental way to manage fire in the landscape and connect people to Country. NPWS is committed to the involvement of Aboriginal people in actively managing country and sharing knowledge of cultural burning between generations.
Smoke will be visible and people with known health conditions can sign up to receive air quality reports, forecasts and alerts via email or SMS from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
For health information relating to smoke from bushfires and hazard reduction burns, visit NSW Health or Asthma Australia.
More information on hazard reduction activities is available at NSW Rural Fire Service and the NSW Government’s Hazards Near Me website and app.
Quotes attributable to Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre Aboriginal Corporation Chairperson Jeanette Crew:
'We are very glad that our local Indigenous rangers and community can reintroduce this crucial cultural land management practice.'
Quotes attributable to Yarrabin Fire’s Den Barber:
'Yarrabin Fire was established in 2020 following the devastating 'Black Summer Wildfires' that spread across large areas of South East Australia that same year.
'Yarrabin Fire aims to help revive the traditional Aboriginal Cultural Practice of burning Country.
'We do this through sharing Cultural Fire knowledge and performing Cultural Burns on both private and public land through workshops and demonstrations.
'Yarrabin Fire is honoured to be involved in leading the Yarkuwa Rangers in this Cultural Burn.'
Quotes attributable to Fire and Rescue NSW Zone Commander Stewart Alexander:
'Fire and Rescue NSW is very pleased to be in involved in this burn.
'It is an excellent opportunity to maintain the environment using cultural burning practices whilst working to limit the impact of any bushfires in this part of Deniliquin.'