Co‐producing a fire and seasons calendar to support renewed Indigenous cultural fire management

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge emphasises the importance of cultural connections between humans and the biophysical world. In the face of threats to the maintenance and transfer of Indigenous knowledge, novel approaches such as seasonal calendars are emerging as tools to share knowledge and guide management of natural and cultural resources. The renewal of Indigenous cultural fire management in southeast Australia provided an opportunity to explore whether the co-production of a fire and seasons calendar, using Western and Indigenous knowledges, can support cultural fire management. We present a case study of cross-cultural collaboration between scientists and the Banbai Aboriginal rangers at Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area, New South Wales. We reviewed literature from various disciplines (archaeological, ethnohistorical, Indigenous and ecological) and undertook participatory action research and interviews to collate relevant information. This was synthesised in Winba = Fire, the Banbai Fire and Seasons Calendar, which is used by the Banbai rangers to guide cultural burning, share cross-cultural knowledge and increase awareness of Indigenous cultural fire management. The process of co-producing knowledge, revitalising culture, caring for Country, working together and supporting self-determination is relevant for many Indigenous communities around the world.

Indigenous use of fire in the paramo ecosystem of southern Ecuador: a case study using remote sensing methods and ancestral knowledge of the Kichwa Saraguro people

“…4 and 6 ). This coincides with other studies which have observed that Indigenous people from other areas use diverse seasonal calendars according to their cosmovision and ecological parameters based on where they inhabit (McKemey et al 2021 ). Regarding the VdN phenomenon, Raffelsbauer et al ( 2019 ) showed that it is characterized by a pronounced low-pressure system east of the Andes that weakens the dominant trade winds.…”

Indigenous cultural burning had less impact than wildfire on the threatened Backwater grevillea (

“…they are relearning and applying Backwater grevillea lore). As the Banbai learn more about the grevillea, the short-beaked echidna (spiny anteater or Tachyglossus aculeatus) (McKemey et al 2019) and all other biophysical and cultural aspects of managing their Country (McKemey et al 2021), they are re-awakening the Dreaming in that landscape. This project therefore documents an important part of cultural burning, which is cultural renewal.…”

Resistance and Care in the Time of COVID‐19: Archaeology in 2020

“… 2012 ; Rivera‐Collazo 2015 ; Ross, Pragnell, and Coghill 2010 ) regarding Indigenous traditions of controlled burning to regulate wildfires on the Pacific Coast of the United States and Australia (McKemey et al. 2021 ; Sherry et al. 2019 ; Zahara 2020 ).…”