Working together to drive change: weaving caring for Country practices into fire risk management on Djiringanj Country

This article documents an action research Community-led project with the Merrimans Local Aboriginal Land Council Aboriginal Rangers on the Far South Coast of New South Wales. The Fire and Country Cultural Values Project explored how best to empower Community-led cultural connection that positively influences bushfire management. The cultural science team in the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is, we think, an Australian first. It is a group of government-employed Aboriginal staff who are supported to practice cultural science. Processes of colonisation have disrupted the sharing of cultural knowledge through family and extended kinship networks. While there has been significant growth in the interest and support for Aboriginal caring for Country practices, work to partner with communities to sustainably regrow cultural capacity and capability remains limited. The Fire and Country Cultural Values Project has led to increases in cultural identity through sharing knowledge; restoring pride, confidence and wellbeing and rebuilding kinship relationships between different communities on the south coast. This has enabled community members to participate in, and provide advice to, bushfire risk management planning to protect tangible and intangible cultural assets.