Aboriginal Cultural Burning

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In this module, students learn that Aboriginal people have been using cultural burning to care for Country for over 60,000 years.

Students identify the many benefits of Aboriginal Cultural Burning and they develop an appreciation for the expansive knowledge and expertise of Cultural Burning practitioners both past and present. This learning enables students to understand the significant contribution Cultural Burning practitioners are making to bushfire management around Australia.

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	1. Being on Country (pptx 1.4MB) Students examine the AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia and discuss the many different and distinct groups. Students use the map to identify the Traditional Custodians of the land on which they live and discuss the significance of acknowledging Country.
	2. What is Aboriginal Cultural Burning? (pptx 757.6KB) Students watch a short video which introduces the practice of Aboriginal Cultural Burning and record key ideas associated with this practice. Students then share those ideas and discuss the difference between Cultural Burning and Prescribed Burning.
	3. Caring for country with Cultural Burning (pptx 521.1KB) Students watch a film about Cultural Burning expert, Victor Steffensen. They engage with the cultural, social and ecological dimensions of Cultural Burning through the lens of Victor’s life experience and his hopes for the future.
	4. Bringing Cultural Burning back onto country (pptx 231KB) Students engage with videos about Cultural Burning on the Country on which they live. They record what they see, think and wonder and engage in a reflective discussion about bringing fire back onto Country.