For three days in mid-August, Woodfordia was host to Healthy Land and Waters who ran a hands-on workshop on how to do controlled burns in a safe way in keeping with traditions practiced for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples of this country.  

The workshop was a complete success with 35 to 40 percent of the planned area mosaic burnt behind the glamping tents and beneath the Big Mother water tank in Cloudland.  

We welcomed participants from Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI), Jinibara People Aboriginal Corporation, Bunya Peoples’ Aboriginal Corporation (BPAC), Kabi Kabi Peoples Aboriginal Corporation, Burnett Mary Regional Group, Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation, Care About Country, Nyanda, and the Queensland Fire Department. 

Chris Kina from Jinibara provided excellent leadership, was proactive in discussions around the burn plan and was on hand for the duration of the burn. He led the teams, in consultation with other fire practitioners, to ensure that the burn was effective to reduce hazards, that animals and habitat were protected, and that the fire didn’t get too hot. This is very important to protect trees and to ensure that country doesn’t get too hot to regrow the plants and grasses that we do want back. We want the weeds to be eradicated slowly, not straight away. The burn is to ensure we have healthy land. 

Topics covered during the workshop included: 

• Reading country and welcoming fires back into south-east Queensland 

• Sharing fire experiences 

• Koala ecology, including a drone course in identification and a thermal drone show–and-tell 

• Workshopping burn plans, mapping and safety 

• Pre-burn monitoring and developing a brief 

• Preparation and patrol planning 

• Strategic discussion of the current weather conditions and areas prepared onsite to conduct a scaled burn at Woodfordia (inside mapped koala habitat) 

• Post-burn review and toolbox. 

These workshops do more for Woodfordia than provide necessary hazard reduction on our beautiful site. They encourage us to listen to our experienced Indigenous representatives about how they cared for country for many thousands of years. We are able to learn through their guidance and conversation about protecting trees, reducing weeds and promoting healthy plants, trees and grasses to care for the country and the animals.  

At Woodfordia, controlled burns can only be carried out in certain regenerated areas of the site that have not been planted with south-east Queensland rainforest trees. We need to plan to keep these practices in place for generations to come.  

This event was a first-time offering. We hope to develop a training package for those in the broader community who are interested in both the fire training and the principles around the work.