Fire Country

In the summer of 2020, the world witnessed Australia burning like never before. Families tragically lost lives, homes and forests were destroyed, millions of animal carcasses lay strewn across burnt hollow landscapes. During this tragic period Aboriginal fire knowledge sparked nationwide discussions, calling for major systemic changes to help save this continent from wildfires.

The knowledge of fire has been held in this continent for thousands of years by Indigenous expertise. In some places it has been extinguished by the coloniser when Aboriginal people were forced from their lands. For the past 30 years senior Indigenous fire practitioner Victor Steffensen has travelled around Australia and the world leading cultural fire burns and rekindling knowledge back to Country.

Based on Victor’s book of the same title, FIRE COUNTRY brings audiences to the leading edge of a global movement that challenges conventional perspectives on fire and land management.

To generate a movement that shifts the consciousness of how Australians see and relate to country gaining a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of this country that is based on Indigenous cultural knowledge.

FIRE COUNTRY is a catalyst for change by:

INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT: showcasing rich cultural heritage and wisdom of Indigenous communities and empowering them by highlighting traditional fire practices and land management techniques / encouraging revitalisation of Indigenous knowledge and practices, fostering a sense of pride and connection to Country.

POLICY CHANGE: advocate for the integration of Indigenous fire management practices into mainstream policies to address and prevent destructive wildfire / promote the recognition and respect of Indigenous ecological knowledge in national and international policies related to land management and fire prevention.

AUDIENCE PERCEPTION SHIFT: challenge common fear of fire by presenting Indigenous fire practices as sustainable, beneficial, and rooted in deep ecological understanding

GLOBAL AWARENESS: raise global awareness about the interconnectedness of Indigenous fire practices and encourage collaboration on a global scale.

Victor Steffensen has been instrumental in the establishment of the Fire Sticks Indigenous Alliance. A national alliance Fire Sticks is a not-for-profit Indigenous network that aims to activate and increase the use of cultural burning by facilitating cultural learning pathways to fire and land management. Firesticks was formed to support communities in the sharing of Traditional Knowledge to activate the reimplementation of traditional fire knowledge practices upon the Australian landscape.

As an Indigenous production Brown Cabs has worked with numerous First Nation communities across the country.

1. Hosting community screenings – we will encourage community members to host their own screening.

2. Seek financial donations to Fire Sticks Agency to support the important and vital work of the national agency in advocating for Indigenous fire practitioners.

3. Encourage pastoralist and landowners to speak to and engage with the local Indigenous community to undertake fire management and burning with the local rural fire service.

4. Encourage any audience members to speak to their elected representatives to ensure that Indigenous people are front and centre in the conversations on fire management going forward.

5. Connect with the project via our website and social media.