1. 1. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS NCCs 10th Biennial Bushfire Conference Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th May 2015, Surry Hills, Sydney
2. 2. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that the following presentation may contain images of deceased people as well as artefacts, Aboriginal sites and other culturally sensitive images. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
3. 3. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS I Acknowledge Country and pay my respect to Elders past and present, Our Sky Father creator, the good Ancestral Spirits and Mother Earth.
4. 4. Introducing BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
5. 5. Dennis (Den) Barber Wiradjuri Blue Mountains Fire Sticks Holder / Coordinator NSW NPWS Aboriginal Co-Management Officer & Fire Crew Member Who am I? Which hat am I wearing? BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
6. 6. What is Aboriginal Cultural Fire? What does it mean to me?
7. 7. 7 Cultural Fire = Cultural Practice Corroboree fire, Bents Basin Culture Camp, 2011
8. 8. 8 Fire helps to cleans me and keep me safe.. Smoking Ceremony Fire
9. 9. 9 Fire provides light, keeps me warm and cooks my food Camp Fire
10. 10. 10 Fire brings my family together and helps us to talk and share. Family Fire
11. 11. 11 Fire cleans Country and brings new life. Country needs Fire!
12. 12. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS Speed Talk: CONFERENCE THEME: Where do we go from here? To answer this question, I believe we need to look to the past; where we are now; and indeed where do we go from here?
13. 13. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS The Past
14. 14. A timeline of significant seasons fire events recorded for the Blue Mountains: 1957 Leura fire (600 left homeless). 1968-69 Lower Mountains fires (3 lives lost and 123 buildings). 1977-78 (3 lives lost and 49 buildings destroyed). 1993-94 800 separate fires across NSW. Grose valley re-burnt after 1977- 78. 2001-02 Over 744,000 ha burnt and 109 houses destroyed. (Sydney Water catchments highly impacted). 2002-03 Extensive fires across NSW with Section 44 invoked for 151 days continuously. (1,500,000 ha burnt and 3 lives lost) 2006 Grose Valley fire with significant impact on ecologically sensitive areas. Source: Fire Stories: The Story of the 1957 Leura Fires a lesson in time. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
15. 15. And more recently the fires of 2013: Winmalee; Lithgow (State Mine); Mt Victoria; and Springwood Linksview Fires. More than 200 homes destroyed or badly damaged. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
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17. 17. Blue Mountains Thursday 17 October 2013 BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
18. 18. Aboriginal people have been in the Blue Mountains for thousands of years. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
19. 19. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS Excerpt from Of the Aborigines T.L MITCHELL, Surveyor General .. Fire, grass, kangaroos, and human inhabitants, seem all dependent on each other for existence in Australia; for any one of these being wanting, the others could no longer continue. Fire is necessary to burn the grass, and form those open forests, in which we find the large forest- kangaroo; the native applies that fire to the grass at certain seasons, in order that a young green crop may subsequently spring up, and so attract and enable him to kill or take the kangaroo with nets. In summer, the burning of long grass also discloses vermin, birds nests, etc., on which the females and children, who chiefly burn the grass, feed. But for this simple process, the Australian woods had probably contained as thick a jungle as those of New Zealand or America, instead of the open forests in which white men now find grass for their cattle, to the exclusion of the kangaroo, which is well-known to forsake all those parts of the colony where cattle run..
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21. 21. Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways Bizant Fire Management Workshop 2010, held in Lama lama Country, Lakefield National Park, QLD. Invitation to Aboriginal people of the Blue Mountains including Darug, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri. NPWS Co-Management funding provided opportunity for Aboriginal people of the Blue Mountains to attend. This workshop had a profound affect on all of the Blue Mountains participants including myself. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
22. 22. NSW including Blue Mountains Aboriginal participants with Elders at Bizant Fire Management Workshop in 2010BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
23. 23. We returned home with great enthusiasm, knowledge and understanding. How could what we learnt be applied in our Country of the Blue Mountains? BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS was born! BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
24. 24. Victor Steffensen of TKRP was invited to visit the Blue Mountains in August 2010. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
25. 25. The following sites were visited: Kings Tableland within Blue Mountains National Park; An EEC site in Blue Mountains National Park near Hazelbrook; and Yellomundee Regional Park
26. 26. The following observations were made: Kings Tableland Site Too many trees. Understorey is dominated by shrubs and saplings. Very little grass but large amounts of dead and dry fuel. All mature trees showed scarring to the crown from recent hot fire. Recommendation to cool burn leaf litter and other dead vegetation that had accumulated since last hot fire. Endangered Ecological Community Site Hanging swamp in desperate need of a burn. High volume of dead grass and fuel loads. Yellomundee Regional Park Highly weed infested area can be treated with cultural burning. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
27. 27. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS The Present
28. 28. Question Can Cultural Fire be used as part of contemporary Conservation Land and Fire Management to restore Country? BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
29. 29. 2 types of fire we are used to seeing in the Blue Mountains BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
30. 30. Wildfire BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
31. 31. Hazard Reduction Burning BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
32. 32. Cultural Fire Yellomundee Firesticks Saturday 14 June 2014, saw the official return of Cultural burning to the Blue Mountains to treat Lantana and African Lovegrass. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
33. 33. The Future Where to from here? BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
34. 34. Who are Blue Mountains Fire Sticks (BMFS)? BMFS is a community initiative of firesticks in NSW. BMFS practice Cultural Fire as part of Aboriginal peoples self determination in caring for Country. BMFS is a collective of Aboriginal and non Aboriginal people and representatives of various organisations and institutions who support the use and acceptance of Cultural Fire as part of contemporary Bushfire Management practices within and surrounding the Blue Mountains. BMFS is an Aboriginal Cultural based group and is not owned by or affiliated with any one individual, group, organisation or institution. BMFS IS OPEN TO EVERYONE INTERESTED! BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
35. 35. BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS Fire Mitigation Works at Aboriginal Archaeological Sites in the Blue Mountains National Park, 2014 Report produced for: National Parks & Wildlife Service, Blue Mountains Region Gundungurra Aboriginal Heritage Association Incorporated DATE: June 2014 Author: Michael Jackson
36. 36. BMFS now continue this work BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
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39. 39. What does Blue Mountains Fire Sticks hope to achieve? Short Term: Engage community, build relationships, gain support and keep the conversation going. Medium Term: Engage landowners (Eg. NPWS), Government Departments and other Fire authorities in considering the application of cultural fire as part of contemporary bush fire management. Longer Term: Engage Aboriginal people who are interested in becoming fire trained in order to participate in burning activities on Country. Others may wish to be part of recording and monitoring and work with other partners. Seek support from land owners (Public and Private) to implement cultural burning. Right now: Inform, participate, share and learn at forums just like this one. Thanks to Elders, Communities, Firesticks and Nature Conservation Council for leading this work in NSW.
40. 40. Blue Mountains Fire Sticks Acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country POTENTIAL PARTNERS OF BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS Aboriginal Language Groups and Community of Blue Mountains Including Darkinjung, Darug, Dharawal, Gundungurra, Wanaruah and Wiradjuri people Firesticks and TKRP Nature Conservation Council of NSW University of Technology Sydney NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service - Blue Mountains Region Office of Environment & Heritage NSW Rural Fire Service Fire and Rescue NSW Gundungurra Aboriginal Heritage Association Incorporated The Gully Traditional Owners Local Aboriginal Land Councils Muru Mittigar Blue Mountains City Council Greater Sydney Local Land Services Sydney Catchment Authority University of Western Sydney Private Land Holders Calling for EOIs for participation in : The BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS CIRCLE (Committee)
41. 41. And finally, my personal vision for a firesticks future in NSW?
42. 42. Burning the grass dance (Uncle Geoff Eagar) BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS
43. 43. Any questions or comments? Lets talk about it! Lets work together! For further info, check out BMFS on FacebookBLUE MOUNTAINS FIRE STICKS