In 2020, an illegal campfire on K'gari sparked a blaze that ravaged more than half of this culturally important island and tourist destination. A collaboration led by traditional owners is now working to avoid such devastation ever happening again.
"I didn't come this far to let our ancestors down," Uncle Boyd Blackman said."You can't walk in front and expect people to follow; you can't walk behind and expect to lead," the Butchulla elder said.
As well as trying to prevent uncontrollable bushfires, the project has created training opportunities for younger traditional owners to learn about the land.K'gari translates to "paradise" in Butchulla language, but it means so much more to the traditional owners.Fire, or "girra", was once central to life on K'gari.
Traditional Indigenous methods prioritise healthy country, preserving native species and resources, biodiversity, and clearing areas for hunting."I'm not talking about animals as furry animals or feathers, I'm talking about six-legged ones," Mr Blake said.One is being burned and contained using Western fire management techniques, another is being burned using traditional land practices and a third is a control block that won't be burned.
"Part of the cultural burning is the manual labour, getting back in here, looking at Country walking around understanding your Country," Mr Burns said.He said one of the main Butchulla laws is "what's good for the Country must come first.""The important thing to remember here … is that when we're working in the fire space on Country, we have gender-specific areas," she said.
"If you were to say K'gari, they say 'great tourist place' so we've got to get the perception back that it's Butchulla country.
Indigenous Sand Island Butchulla Environment Culture Queensland Parks And Wildlife Service Traditional Owners Cultural Burning Landscape Recovery Foundation Fraser Island Burnett Mary Regional Group Bmrg
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