Traditional Land Management Practices - k2c.org.auk2c.org.au/files/TLMP_Newsletter No2.pdf ·...

Traditional Land Management PracticesA Kosciuszko 2 Coast & Partner Newsletter on Indigenous Values in the Landscape

Issue No. 2June 2012

Budjeree Manmungan (Budjeree - hello/welcome/goodbye; Manmungan - fellow countrymen or neighbours)

Welcome to our second newsletter on Traditional Land Management Practices. This series of newslet-ters aims to promote an understanding and adoption of Traditional Land Management Practices.

This newsletter is published by Kosciuszko to Coast (K2C) who working with Rod Mason, Ngarigo elder and Traditional Natural Resource Manager, aims to encourage landowners within the K2C area to recog-nise Traditional values in the landscape and to introduce Traditional land management practices.

• Introduction of newsletter editor - Pat Murray, p 2

• Update of our two active projects, :

1. Traditional Land Management Practices , p 3

2. Monaro Landscape Connectivity (MLC), p 4

• Workshop/working bee at Scottsdale. Trialling Rod Mason’s traditional practices, p 2.

• Captivating summary by Christine Gooney on Friends of Grasslands’s workshop on Indigenous Values in the Landscape workshop held 19/20 April 2012 at the property Garuwanga via Nimmita-bel, NSW, p 5.

Contents

Published by Kosciuszko to Coast, c/o Bredbo Post Office, Bredbo, NSW 2616 2

Greetings from the newsletter editor. I have worked in the natural resource man-agement area for 25 years, the last 8 years I was the wetland specialist at the Mur-rumbidgee Catchment Management Authority. I left the Murrumbidgee CMA in 2011 to pursue my interests in Australian native vegetation and fauna.

I practise re-establishment of native vegetation and sustainable living on my 2 hectares in Wagga Wagga. While at the Murrumbigee CMA I worked closely with Aboriginal officers to develop and deliver projects that helped to reconnect them to country. I attended a K2C Traditional Land Management workshop in April last year and found it very inspirational and have tried to adopt some of the practices

on my block. Although most of our plantings are only 5 years old we have seen a change in the species of birds we are starting to attract including superb blue wrens and flame robins.

I grew up in rural Wisconsin in the USA and emigrated to Australia in 1975 after competing my undergradu-ate studies in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I was an executive member of the local WIRES branch for 10 years and specialised in the care of wombats and threatened species, which included squirrel gliders.

My main interest has been to bridge the information gap between the scientific community and the general public. Becoming involved in groups like K2C and its newsletters is one way of achieving that goal. I wel-come any comments and ideas to keep you engaged in these projects.

My email address is: [email protected].

Traditional Land Management Practices Project

Presents its

1st workshop/working bee to trial Traditional Land Management Practices with Rod Mason

When: Tuesday, 10 July 2012 from 12.00 noon – 4.30 pm

Where: Bush Heritage Australia, Scottsdale Reserve, Bredbo

This will be a hands-on day to trial small mosaic burning techniques on selected grassland and woodland patches.

This trial will only take place weather permitting and may be postponed at short notice. Limited places so please RSVP to Lauren Van Dyke asap on 0411 402 978 or [email protected]

Directions will be provided upon RSVP. Attendees will be required to bring lunch, solid walking boots and protective gear.

Attendees are also advised to have read the draft Reintroducing Land Management

Practices Booklet

Newsletter Editor - Pat Murray

New editor Pat Murray


This project has progressed well since our first issue. K2C has published and sent out for comment the draft booklet “Reintroducing Traditional Management Practices” based on Rod Mason’s methods. The booklet ex-plains a Traditional understanding of Country and explains why Traditional Practices are still highly relevant and how they might be merged with other management methods.

The booklet covers key concepts such as:

• managing grasslands, woodlands and forests;

• garden farming;

• natural wicks in the landscape to increase landscape hydration;

• removing excess leaf litter;

• minimising fire risk;

• rebuilding soil;

• reintroducing species;

• new products and industries; and

• explanation of the ‘cool burning’ tool.

The booklet challenges both farmers and conservationists but offers a range of methods that land managers might trial. The methodology set out in the booklet will be tested through a series of on-ground trials and revised during the rolling out of this and another jointly managed project entitled – Monaro Landscape Connectivity Project (update below).

What you can do:

1. Contact us if you would like to obtain a copy of the Reintroducing Traditional Land Management Practices booklet and or make comments on it (all comments will be considered in preparing the final version). At present it is only available as a PDF version.

2. If you are a landholder in the Murrumbidgee Catchment and would like to be involved in an on- ground trial on your property , please get in contact. We intend to engage 12 landholders who will be prepared to actively apply some of the practices. This project is funded by the Murrumbidgee CMA under their Commu-nity Partnerships Program.

For more information contact Lauren Van Dyke: 0411 402 978 or [email protected]

Rod Mason talking about bush food - March 2011. Photo PMurray

Traditional Land Management Practices Project


Traditional Landscape Management Practice (TLMP) is also a significant component of the Monaro Landscape Connectiv-ity (MLC) project which involves K2C in partnership with the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority and Mur-rumbidgee Landcare Inc. The aim of the MLC project is to reconnect fragmented native vegetation communities such as woodlands and grasslands across the Monaro and Rod Mason will be assisting landholders to integrate TLMP in this task.

The first MLC workshop was held in the Bungendore/Captains Flat region and three landholders have been selected to take part. A further 15 landholders will be engaged in the project in the coming months. This project is funded through the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country Program.

What you can do:

1. For more information go to www.k2c.org.au and look for the MLC information sheet behind the Projects button.

2. If you feel your property fits within the criteria then please don’t hesitate to send in the Expression of Interest form also found on the website or contact us directly.

For more information contact Lauren Van Dyke: 0411 402 978 or [email protected]

The final Friends of Grasslands workshop on Indigenous Values in the Landscape was held at Garuwanga, near Nimmitabel, on 19 and 20 April. As usual there was a varied contingent of participants. A large group of partic- i-pants came from the Canberra National Parks Association keen to learn Traditional approaches to land management. See page a summary of workshop on page.

The Friends of Grassland Project, “Indigenous Values in the Landscape” delivered five (two day) workshops and two half field day workshops. Rod Mason delivered the work-shops which gave him an opportunity to share his knowl-edge. This knowledge was based on his own upbringing as well as his family. The knowledge was of the Traditional way of life and in particular Traditional land management experiences.

This project was generously funded by the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority, a K2C partner, who also helped to design the project, under Caring for our Country.

If you want to find out more about the work K2C is doing on Traditional land management contact Lauren Van Dyke: 0411 402 978 or [email protected] or visit www.k2c.org.au.

Rod Mason talking about land management April 2012 workshop

Monaro Landscape Connectivity (MLC) Project and TLMP

Final Indigenous Values in the Landscape Workshop

Contact us


Introduction

The workshop was designed to reconnect people to the natural and cultural resources in our region and to create a better understanding of our (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) shared culture/heritage/biodiversity values. Rod’s vision is to have Indigenous natural resource management techniques adopted in farm and reserve management.

Unlike western culture, there are no straight lines in Aboriginal learning; no hierarchal connections which can be followed sequentially. Learning is a large interconnecting web of experience and responsibility. Authority to teach comes from connection to the land and from taking care of the land, not from structures. History is personal, spiritual and global, all at the same time. It is past, present and future. Caring for country is embedded in familial relationships and stories which are both true and myth at the same time.

Understanding the land

Rod starts with the names of the significant features of the area because knowing the land is inherent in managing the land. One word can mean a lot of things depending on context but the main features of this country are:

Nallaga: ridgelineWallaga: coastNarrawallee: grasslandWadbilliga: escarpmentTidbilliga: Snowy MountainsBurrungubbugee: foot hills

Wadbilliga is the escarpment, which also contains the burial grounds. Tidbilliga is the spiritual place, the church. Narrawallee is the living area where food and game are. All the areas are linked and major features impact across a wide area. For example the big rainmakers for this area are hundreds of kilometres apart.

Family and responsibilities

Rod’s family, ancestry and responsibilities go from the coast out into the central desert. The ancient camps that his family are connected to go way up the eastern Australian coast and out west. The oldest local camp is Birrigai; other important meeting places going north include Menai, Kurringai and Nattai. Rod’s families keep stories right across these areas, eg part of his education was gaining knowledge of the big under-ground caverns below Canberra.

Stories come from family and tell you who you are, where you are from. Rod’s grandmother taught him all the places to camp, all the birds, all the plants and trees. “This bush school is still open” Rod tells us, “But some people have lost respect for the old country. They were taken away and forgot where they came from.”

Families are more than the immediate relationships. Knowledge is built up from uncles, grandfathers, not just fathers and mothers. More often, knowledge and authority come from members of the wider family group. In return, people have a wider responsibility than just to their own children and parents.

The families had specialised roles spread throughout the groups. Some were toolmakers, others made spears. There were judges, juries and policemen who enforced the law. The groups traded with each other, sometimes across big distances and marriages were arranged with neighbours.

Traditional Land Management Practice Workshop 19/20 April 2012 - by Christine Goonrey


Culture comes from the land itself, the trees, the rocks the bushes. Everything has a name, a dance, a story. Bull ants are not just bull ants; they do not just sting. If you observe them closely you will see them dance. It is important to look closely: see things you’ve never noticed before; find your own values; understand more about it by working with the land.

Rod’s people came from the desert out west and from the coun-try way up north. They have not been in this south country long, only about 4,000 or 6,000 or 8,000 years. They did not live here before that because of the dangers in this area. One story is that big winds blew for many hundreds of years, no-one could live here. Then there were the Dulugar, big hairy men who lived in this country and killed and ate Aboriginal people if they caught them. For a long time the families did not come further south than the Clyde River. Then pressure of families growing bigger pushed them south, but they kept the connections with the old country. Rod’s authority is recognised out in the central desert as well as here on the coast and escarpment. He still goes back to the central desert regularly to look after country. All the places connect; joining the dots is where knowledge is.

Aboriginal people didn’t just passively travel though the land pick-ing up what was there. They actively managed the country setting up food and material for use when they returned. Over the centuries they brought plants and animals into new country as they travelled south and east. For example the Dharrawal people brought the cabbage tree palm (a rainforest tree) with them as they travelled south. They cultivated local plants and established gar-dens at regular camping sites, so that the site would be producing the things they needed when next they visited. Everyone, even small children, has an area they are responsible for the rest of their lives. They have to keep it healthy and keep its plants and animals healthy.

As families got bigger, tracks became more frequent. Tracks up from the coast to the mountains were spread across the land, going to different areas like grass country, stone country and to food supplies like swamps and creeks. Campsites were dispersed: a sister’s group here, a brother’s there.

Ridge lines and creeks were always good pathways to ceremony places or hunting grounds, or to food camps. Different sites are important because they have different purposes. They may be camp-grounds, gardens or resources; or may have a particular ceremony or dance associated with the site; or may be burial grounds or meeting grounds; or perhaps have a spiritual meaning in the big story of the land.

Corroboree was an important part of passing on the knowledge. Participation went across family groups. For example young men and older uncles would come to the same place every year for ceremony often over hundreds of years.

When people died they were buried in the country they were born in. The dead were wrapped in bark and left in trees. Some time later the family members gathered up the bones, wrapped them in bark and put them in special places. For Rod’s extended family this was the caves and ledges along the escarpment, Wadbilliga. (Rod expressed a wish to be able to visit these places where they are on private land. This is a classic example of the long term clash between the European notion of land ownership and Aboriginal view of their role as custodians of the land, not owners.)

Rod Mason making spear - March 2011 workshop. Photo P Murray


The laws of the natural world

There are three main laws or elements: wind; fire; water. Laws on management and use of resources, plants and animals are grouped under these three laws.

• There are different types of birds: wind birds (eagles etc); fire birds (eg Diamond Firetail); and water birds (eg ducks etc).

• There are different types of plants: Grasses are wind plants; eucalypt is a fire plant; casuarina is a water plant.

• Three main colours denote the role or grouping of things: red/orange; blue; and white. Colour is a guide to plant use.

• Three main kinds of trees are used: acacia; eucalypt; melaleuca.

• Things belong together (have relationships), eg three kinds of possums belong with the three groups of trees: sugar gliders belong with acacia; brush-tails belong with eucalypts; ring-tails belong with mela-leuca.

Seasons are identified by what appears in conjunction with each other, eg ‘butterfly time’ means butterflies bring birds; birds spread seeds and help the gardens grow. Ferneries come good in mid summer when birds need refuge from the heat. Managing the land means enhancing these relationships.

Learning the right ways

Aboriginal learning is done through show and tell; trial and error; touch and taste. Rod’s teacher was his grandfather. He spoke six languages but never wrote anything down. He used painting and mark-making to record what needed to be recorded. Rod showed us his father’s and grandfather’s ceremonial shields which marked their authority in different parts of the country. The markings on the shields described specific areas and would be recognised by initiated men.

“The country teaches you”.

Managing the land

Aboriginal people managed the natural world for what they needed. It’s the same as European farming but done with a different mind set. The bush has patterns and these patterns are used to manage the bush for what you want to achieve. For example, we looked closely at a small rocky knoll with dead wood, weeds, etc. hampering good plants and the small animals and birds which need to be encouraged. Fire can be used to carefully manage this area but first you have to look carefully at what is there and decide how to manage it.

Rather than tell us what to do, Rod posed two questions: which is the most flammable plant here, and do you burn the most flammable first or last? The issue is not what are the right answers to these questions but how you observe and learn the answers for yourself. He suggested the way to do this would be to set a small fire and observe what happens. Then go on to set other small fires over several weeks which put into practice what you have observed. The idea is to get rid of rubbish and allow the good plants to grow. These small fires cover only a few square metres at a time and it may take several weeks to burn the area in a pattern which makes sure the valuable plants and animals of the rocky knoll are not damaged. Burn and watch it; come back; watch what is there; learn about it. Then don’t burn for a few years; just observe and learn. Bring the pattern back.

An example of a red/orange plant - March 2011 workshop. Photo GMurray


Fire as a tool

Fire is used to clean up country, look after the plants and trees. Use small fires, spread across the area. Use fire at different times for different purposes, for example, using cool autumn burns for grassy areas. There are strict laws about who can burn and when. You can’t burn someone else’s area: it’s their responsibility and you will get into a lot of trouble if your fire goes across into their country. Rod’s people never lit a fire and left it; there was always a responsibility to make sure it worked the way it should.

For a cool autumn burn select the area carefully, wait till there’s low cloud, maybe mist on the hilltops. You want the green underlayer to remain. Mark out the area you want burnt, prepare strategies to limit it in case a wind springs up. Start the fire with the wind at your back. Spread it across the area with small ignitions, working it across the area you want covered. If the wind changes, you change where you are working, keep the wind at your back all the time.

Areas that Aborigines didn’t go into were not burnt. Fire was a tool for managing the places they used. There were types of vegetation they didn’t burn eg forests where the bark goes right up into the canopy. Aborigi-nal people had no right to interfere with lightning strikes. If a big fire came through, you leave it, let it go. Don’t try to stop it, just get everyone out of its way. Don’t put out natural fires; country did that or another entity. Never interfere with wind, lightening or rain.

Looking at the Landscape

Rod encouraged us to look at the wider landscape around us. Look for particular species which can indicate the health of an area, eg banksia on a rocky knoll. Look at the connections between ti-tree and rocky out-crops, between wet and dry areas. We have to know when the birds and butterflies arrive in this part of the world; when the trees blossom; what is happening under the ground.

Looking after country is not just about the shrubs, trees and things that Aborigines use and eat. We need to look after the whole of country. Look for what is missing as well as what is here. This country needs to get more of the small animals back; but to keep them on country it needs the big emus to make them feel safe, drive away foxes and wild dogs. Smaller animals don’t feel safe without the big emus looking out for them. We won’t get koalas back if there aren’t any emus, because the koalas won’t feel safe. What is needed is a big feller (father emu) and some females to come and settle, lay eggs; stay on country.

Listen to what’s coming out of country. Observe for yourself; carry the task you’ve been given; come back to the family and tell the old people what you’ve learnt.

Managing change

To manage the land for which we have taken responsibility, we have to know the place inside out and know how the place changes in the story line. For example, story-tellers on weather have a long history of weath-er. They have been tracking climate changes for a very long time. Change happens, we have to adapt to these changes. During the recent ice ages, the land extended out beyond the present coast. Rod’s grandfa-ther told him stories of stone axes now in underwater caves below Sydney Harbour, but no-one listened till a scientist found one; then they believed it.

Using natural fire starters - March 2011 workshop. Photo GMurray


Tjuppurra

“When we go home and go to sleep, who’s looking after us: country. So we have to look after country. Find all these values, family values, personal values.” Find out what is our Tjuppurra, our own story, our own special place and use it.

Everyone has their own special responsibility. For example, Rod’s daughter is boss of orchids; his son is boss of ring tail possum. Rod’s daughters collect seed pods and make necklaces out of them, not to sell but to act out Tjuppurra. Being in the bush, making things, even toys, using the bush, that is part of Tjuppurra. It doesn’t have to be serious stuff all the time. Rod showed us how to make little birds and spiders out of feathers, leaves, seed pods and then how to play games with them.

Politics

The problem for a lot of Aboriginal people is the big displacements over the last 200 years. A lot of Abo-riginal politics like Land Councils are run on the Mission system. This system promotes nepotism instead of the larger family network and responsibilities; short term interests instead of caring for country; hierarchy instead of responsibility for country. So a Land Council member from the rainforest country could be mak-ing decisions about escarpment country. That’s why that system doesn’t work for Aboriginals. These are what Rod calls ‘new Aborigines’, people who have come into another country without learning the ways of that place, and stayed on.

These people don’t know where they came from and they don’t know the right stories, they don’t know how to behave. They haven’t got their Tjuppurra; they’re not educated; never done ceremony; they have no culture. Ceremony is secret; you have to swear to protect country. It’s family business, control and responsi-bility. The family networks have to deal with it if it is disrespected.

But family members are scattered, they’re stuck on reserves, off country. Aborigines from Wilcannia were sent to Coonamble; long way to get back home.

Possible future actions

Rod would like to farm native plants like lomandra; to use his country to produce commercial supplies of the herbs and seeds people want to buy. He wants some commercial tourism in the area where the Aborigi-nal knowledge is respected and imparted to visitors. Visits could include Tuross Falls, Lambie Gorge and the mountains.

Final words:

Be curious; make things in country; find your values, your story.

View of “Country” on Garuwanga near Nimmitabel NSW - March 2011 workshop. Photo GMurray

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