LIGHTING THE WAY IN BUSHFIRE RECOVERY

From the Batemans Bay coastline to the inland high country around Braidwood in southern NSW, the Walbunja Rangers have been looking after their Country on traditional Yuin land since setting up in 2010, and played a lead role in recovery efforts following the catastrophic 2019-20 bushfires.

Now they are set to expand their team and area of operations much further after a successful application for funding from the Federal Government’s 2024 Indigenous Rangers program (IRP) funding round.

Walbunja Rangers Project Manager Andrew White said the group was thankful for the support they received from Country Needs People to prepare the IRP application.

“We worked with Country Needs People over a number of years on our IRP application,” he said. "Country Needs People have been really good advocates for us, we were lucky to have their support".

“IRP funding will start in July 2025 and run through to June 2028. With that funding we'll be able to boost our work crew to take on more contracts, do more work on our own land and build key assets such as purchasing our own vehicles and boats.“I'm hoping we'll be able to employ up to 15 people in a mix of full-time and part-time roles.” 

Bushfire impacts

Operating under the auspices of the Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council (BBLALC), the Rangers work across a large area of Country which was among the worst affected by the 2019-20 bushfires. Andrew described the impact of the fires as "absolutely devastating”.

“I'd say around 90% of our Country was burnt," he said. “It's still painful to think about and Country's still healing, but it finally focused the minds of government land agencies, parks management and private landowners on the importance of traditional land management practices.”

With support from Country Needs People, in 2020 the Rangers successfully applied for funding under the NSW Government's Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLERF). This allowed the group to consolidate its position and guarantee employment for its Ranger crew.

Andrew said up until that point Walbunja had always been reliant on unpredictable grant funding and private contracting income, casting a continual cloud of uncertainty over the group's operational capacity.

“The BLERF funding augmented our existing income and we've been able to essentially guarantee seven full time positions since 2021,” Andrew said. "That's allowed us to focus on our work and in particular, the traditional cool burns that keep Country safe from out-of-control fires.

“As well as that we do everything from weed eradication, revegetation, erosion control, feral pest management, to threatened species surveys and recovery.”

Working on Country

The Rangers undertake contract work across a patchwork of land tenures, including privately-owned land, Crown Lands, State Forests, National Parks and Reserves, and Shire Council-owned land, and also have a contract with Transport NSW for cultural burning along highway corridors.

Walbunja is helped by having insurance for cultural burning activities – in fact they were the first Aboriginal group in NSW to negotiate such insurance.

“We work very closely with Local Land Services and Crown Lands, and we were actually the first group in NSW to be paid a fee-for-service for doing cultural burns on Crown Lands,” Andrew said.

The BBLALC owns several parcels of land, the largest of which is Nelligen on the lower Clyde River which covers some 1205ha. Most recently the Land Council took ownership of Plumwood Mountain at the top of the escarpment, which has added another 70ha of prime upland native forest habitat to its total estate.

This land contains key habitat for several endangered animal species such as the Greater Glider along with threatened ecological communities including old-growth Gondwana temperate rainforests with many culturally significant plant and animal species.

All Walbunja Rangers are required to complete a Cert III course in Indigenous Land Management through Walan Miya, an Indigenous training provider and Dhurga Language Course at TAFE. The BBLALC is also implementing a school-based traineeship program through Batemans Bay High School. These trainees will undertake Cert II On Country Management and complete on-the-job training over 2 years.