Cultural burning connecting students to Country

At Barunga, about an hour's drive east of Katherine, burning is learning for local high school students thanks to a cultural program.

Jawoyn Ranger Tristin Lami Lami instructs students on a Learning On Country lesson near Barunga, east of Katherine. Source: NITV, Guy McLean

In the Top End, school students are teaming up with Aboriginal rangers to protect country, sacred sites and communities.

The Learning On Country program at Barunga School has recently been focusing on cultural burning, giving the next generation vital skills needed to care for Country.

The students are joined by the local Jawoyn Rangers to undertake protective cultural burns around their community.

Learning On Country assistant Samson Andrews with Jawoyn Rangers Max Baruwei (left) and Tristin Lami Lami

"We want to get them back out walking on Country rather than sitting in the classroom," Learning On Country assistant Samson Andrews said. 

"Teaching them in the classroom is a little bit boring but we try and keep the kids occupied and walking around the bush."

Rangers burn the landscape in the relative cool of the early dry season, creating cooler and less destructive fires - something Jawoyn people have been doing for thousands of years.

Learning On Country also relies on the knowledge of local Elders.

Esther Bulumbara is a Traditional Owner of Barunga and neighboring Beswick who regularly travels out with Learning On Country students.

Jawoyn elder and Traditional Owner Esther Bulumbara regularly attends Learning On Country trips

"[Students] told me, 'Old lady, we want to do burning on Country.'"

"The ranger mob, they tell all these kids... how to do the burning with matches, with the torch, with the blower..."

"They really love it."

Learning On Country is jointly delivered by schools, local rangers and the Northern Land Council. It was designed to get kids out of the classroom and into the bush.

It's having a positive impact on engagement and attendance.

"We’re introducing it across the whole school from pre-school to year 12 so everyone will get a chance to go out," Barunga School principal Malcolm Hales said. 

"It’s certainly an enticement and there’s no doubt that our attendance across the current 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 benefit from this program."

It’s hoped some of these students will transition to working as rangers when they finish school.

It's a career year 11 student Thomas Wurramara is seriously considering. 

"Yeah I would love to become a ranger working alongside Samson and the other rangers and looking after country," he said.