Today I went to a cultural burn at a friend’s nearby property. It was run by the amazing team at Waluwin Ngurambang with a wonderrful group of people some locals, some just moved to unceded country of Ngunnawal, Ngambri and probably other peoples. Cultural burning is a first nations Australians cultural practice. I was there to support and learn and have a lovely morning out with my community.

I find the opening group introductions so lovely with everyone sharing their name, name of country (of birth and/or current residence) and why they came.  We then heard an acknowledgement of country, smoked ourselves to cleanse and heard why cool burning is ‘proper’ compared to the harsher fuel induced burns that burn hotter and higher.

.  Ella supervising

We all got a lighter – even the kids as this is good learning for them to know fire and be responsible for what they do with it.

Off we went to a flat gully area with grasses, debris from dead acacias (wattles) and thicketty matted grass eaten down by the kangaroo mobs.

At first you start with one fire area and sit with it and observe, you then get a bit more adventurous and light 2 or even 3 areas in an arc around you. You listen for the ignition roar and watch what the fire does, how it spreads, how the wind catches it and how it dies away leaving the black ash and green shoots visible which is what you want.

Mozaic patterns emerge

I headed into a big patch of grasses  ( providing some shelter habitat). Some areas were too damp to ignite and some reeds just said ‘don’t bother me’ and the drier grass ends just flew into flame then died away quickly.

Down further on the plain we were lighting one area and watching it spread quickly in a circle one tussock igniting another.  Black Mozaic patterns appeared across what was very dense grasses.  All the time we are working together, watching out for fires, kids and any critters that need to move.  I didn’t see any critters.  The kids were shown some beetles and scorpions under the larger logs of wood left on the ground for habitat.

Core of my heart, my country (McKellar) Image: WorkSmith (c) 2025

We stopped and had a lovely potluck (potlatch) lunch under the gums.  Some of us didn’t want to stop and kept burning.  I left the group after lunch to have an afternoon nap while they continued with the work to help restore country.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge about country

Waluwin Ngurambang

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