Trust For Nature and the Bunurong Land Council are running a Certificate III of Conservation and Land Management course called the Warreen Beek Rangers program. It’s designed specifically for Traditional Owners/Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to gain skills to work on country. My special guest is Mark Gardiner a Wurundjeri man here in Melbourne who has completed courses in Conservation and Land Management. It’s all about sharing knowledge to protect country. It’s now in its third year and orientation day for the 2020 course is on October 28, so it’s a timely story.
The program has already contributed to the restoration of middens while teaching skills such as chainsaw and chemical use, occupational health and safety, weed control and cultural studies. They also have fire elders who come on board to teach the practice of Indigenous burns.
Students have the opportunity to work on properties that have conservation covenants, providing landowners with the chance to understand traditional knowledge while the students can learn about practical landcare techniques such as plant identification and threatened species.
When: The course starts on the October 28th (Orientation Day) How Much: The course is Free. Where: The training will occur at Holmesglen Waverly Campus with field work in a variety of locations around Eastern and South-eastern Melbourne. How Do I Apply/Get More Information:
Contact Ben Cullen at Trust for Nature on benc@tfn.org.au Eligibility: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
All images supplied by Trust for Nature taken by Annette Ruzicka