For more than 800 years, the Gunaikurnai people kept the woodlands of East Gippsland, in what is now Victoria, open and stable with frequent, gentle fires. Then British colonizers forced them off that work. Fuel piled up, open woodland became dense, flammable forest, and fires began tearing through the treetops and stripping the soil. A new study shows the damage began long before today's climate warming.
Sign the petition urging the Victorian Government to greatly expand funding for Traditional Owner-led cultural burning and to create permanent jobs for Indigenous fire practitioners and rangers.
Climate change is making the danger worse, the researchers say, by amplifying a weakness that colonization created. Breaking the cycle, they argue, means going beyond hazard reduction and putting Traditional Owners in the lead, with the resources and support to do it.
Colonization drove the people who protected this land away from it, and Victoria has the chance to bring them back. Victoria has made a start, including a cultural fire strategy and dedicated funding for Traditional Owner-led burning. The new research shows why that start needs to grow into permanent jobs, steady funding, and real decision-making power for the people who cared for this land for thousands of years.
For more than 800 years, Indigenous fire stewardship kept catastrophic fire away, and with real support it can do that again.
Sign the petition and demand the Victorian Government expand Traditional Owner-led cultural burning and create lasting jobs for Indigenous fire practitioners and rangers.
