The grants support Aboriginal Victorians to care for Country through land management to enhance cultural and environmental values.
Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Bangerang Aboriginal Corporation and Taungurung Land & Waters Council are among 10 groups funded to support cultural burning practices on Country.
“The grants will enable Traditional Owners to take the lead in cultural burning on Country and reduce bushfire risk in line with the priorities identified within the Victorian Traditional Owner Cultural Fire Strategy,” Forest Fire Management Victoria Hume deputy chief fire officer Jarrod Hayse said.
“The grants will strengthen existing partnerships with Traditional Owner groups, as we support them to plan, implement and monitor burning projects.”
Before colonisation, cultural burning was used for a wide range of purposes, including protecting Country, providing habitat for wildlife and the harvesting of resources.
Taungurung Land & Waters Council chief executive officer Matt Burns said for “millennia, the Taungurung people applied wiinj (fire) and associated practices to biik (Country)”.
“This has been done in line with our cultural obligations, passed to us from our ancestors to ensure that Country is always healthy,” he said.
“This grant enables the Taungurung people to lead in the healing and caring for biik in ways that haven’t been possible since the onset of colonisation.
“It’s important for the livelihoods of all Victorians that the right fire is applied to biik again.”
For more information, visit: www.environment.vic.gov.au/grants/cultural-fire-grants
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