Culturally-informed Cool Burns
Update June 2026
For those of you who have been following the ‘Culturally-informed Cool Burn’ fire program in Port Stephens over the last three years, you might be interested to hear that the NSW Government is following the recommendations of the 2020 NSW Bushfire Inquiry and has committed to removing barriers that have hampered cultural burning across the state. Cultural fire is not hazard reduction. It’s a tradition that has long been practised by Aboriginal people with spiritual, environmental and social outcomes at its core.
For the first time in NSW, cultural burning is being recognised as a vital Aboriginal practice through the Cultural Fire Strategy. The Strategy will support Aboriginal people to lead the use of cultural fire on Country. It simplifies processes, clarifies responsibilities and removes unnecessary regulatory barriers. Developed in partnership between Aboriginal groups and NSW Government agencies, the Strategy formally acknowledges the expertise of Aboriginal burning practitioners.
Bundjalung and Wonnarua woman and manager of the DCCEEW Healthy Country Team, Dr Vanessa Cavanagh, said: “Aboriginal people know the importance of caring for Country, including with fire, and they know that what is good for Country is good for everyone. The outcomes are more than just about fire, they are environmental, social, spiritual and cultural. The strategy helps NSW Government in supporting Aboriginal-led approaches”
In the communities where they have been able to practise cultural fire burning, there have been beneficial economic, spiritual, environmental, social, educational and health outcomes. In Port Stephens, an inspection tour of the Mallabula burn site in 2024, including a ‘demonstration burn’ was led by Whitney Ridgeway, a fire practitioner from Hunter Local Land Services. Those of us attending were surprised and impressed to see the changes and benefits that have occurred since the culturally informed cool burns were completed. See below for the original article.
The NSW Government believes that this Cultural Fire Strategy will improve coordination of cultural fire across NSW, responding to recommendations from the Bushfire Inquiry and contributing to government commitments under the NSW Closing the Gap Priority Reforms and the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
My colleague at Renew, Dick Clarke, is like me a passionate, non-indigenous advocate for a widespread Australia-wide move to cool or cultural burning practices. He said:
“It’s really encouraging that fire authorities are starting to take Indigenous fire management skills seriously. It’s long overdue, but great to see. It still has opposition from some old-school white fella thinking, the kind of inertia that resists other ideas or changing the status quo. This can also have its usefulness: making sure ‘new’ approaches prove their worth before being unleashed untested.”
Dick reminds us that Indigenous care for Country is the oldest cultural practice on the planet, and has been proven beyond doubt, that it works. He said,
“In some places it will be a cool fire, in other places perhaps a controlled hot fire, and in others no fire at all ever. But always Country is managed with intent, and nuanced care, responding to both ecological need and the weather on the day, rather than long lead times and centralised scheduling.”
“The whole Country, north to south and east to west needs to get back to this careful fine-grained management system. Pretty much everybody agrees what we have been doing for the last 150 years does not work, and climate change is only making the problem worse.”
Further Reading:
- The NSW Cultural Fire Strategy – 2 June 2026
- NSW releases Cultural Fire Strategy to support Aboriginal-led burning – ABC News June 2026
- Cultural burning in New South Wales: Challenges and opportunities for policy makers and Aboriginal peoples – ANU Centre for Indigenous Policy Research 2021
- The Worimi Green Team featured on Gardening Australia 2024.
- Worimi Conservation Lands – Fire Management Strategy
- Firesticks – Hunter NSW Community
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Update October 2024
In EcoUpdate 20, I brought you the news about a special workshop that was held in Mallabula on 26 October 2023. It was hosted by Port Stephens Council which supports an Aboriginal-led working group to develop a ‘Culturally-informed Cool Burn’ fire management strategy over the next 3 years. The program is a partnership with the Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council, Hunter Local Land Services, and Firesticks – an Indigenous organisation empowering communities to lead the way in healing the planet.
The program continues and further cool burns were held in Mallabula and Salamander Bay. On 19 October, an awe-inspiring workshop was held in Mallabulla. A Welcome to Country from Uncle John Ridgway was followed by an inspection tour of the Mallabula burn site, including a ‘demonstration burn’. Led by Whitney Ridgeway, a fire practitioner from Hunter Local land Services, we were thrilled to see the changes and benefits that have occurred since the culturally informed cool burns were completed. Here are some photos from the day.
Photos: Cultural fire practitioner Whitney Ridgeway demonstrates how to start and control a cultural cool burn. Port Stephens Mayor, Leah Anderson, attended the workshop with 40 or so attendees to watch and learn about this low-intensity fire technique designed to improve land health, re-establish appropriate fire regimes, and reduce the risk and impact of wildfires.
A culturally-informed cool burn is a low-intensity fire designed to improve land health, re-establish appropriate fire regimes, and reduce the risk and impact of wildfires. Hazard reduction is implemented to reduce fuel loads but in many cases, it actually increases some mid-storey vegetation species which thrive after a hot fire. Cool burns are done more frequently as conditions demand and fire practitioners can recognise when Country needs to be burnt. We’ve all heard about mosaic burning and burns can also be done by selecting the right vegetation community at the right time. When stringybark forests are ready may be a different time of year than ironbark or angophora communities. The tree canopy is where the seeds, the berries and the new tips provide sustenance for animals, it’s where koalas climb to find fresh leaf or to escape the fire below. By burning only the ground layers, trees remain undamaged, leaves unburnt and wildlife can continue to feed in the area. Firesticks believes that Caring for Country the right way means centring Indigenous knowledge in land management.
“Firesticks is a national Indigenous network that empowers communities to protect and enhance Country and wellbeing by reviving Cultural knowledge practices. Through mentoring, training, and advocacy, we are demonstrating the value of Indigenous land management and knowledge systems.”
In 2020, the first Firesticks Mentoring Program began in the Hunter region which culminated in the recognition of 22 new Cultural Fire Practitioners in 2023. Several of the new fire practitioners who graduated at a special ceremony at Murrook late last year were from the Hunter region.
Here is a message from Worimi and Bundjalung Associate Fire Practitioner, Whitney Ridgeway: Journey of a Cultural Fire Practitioner.
What a day for a cool burn workshop. Despite rain and strong winds, around 60 of us attended the Caring for Country community event on 26 October 2023
Useful links
- Cultural burning is better for Australian soils than prescribed burning, or no burning at all – reproduced from The Conversation March 2024
- Did you see the Worimi Green Team on Gardening Australia? If you missed it, you can watch it here.
- More cultural burns needed ahead of bushfire season – ABC News October 2023
- Fire Country by Victor Steffenson – Book review EcoUpdate May 2024