Listening First on Bundjalung Country

Smoking ceremony. Image courtesy of Jagun Alliance / Coedie McCarthy

Hazard science is at its strongest when shaped by deep cultural knowledge, lived experience and the relationships that make both possible.

In September 2025, Bundjalung Country (northeastern NSW) saw a significant gathering between Indigenous Knowledge Holders, NSW government end-users and BNHRC researchers.

Over three days, the workshop set out to reset long-standing dynamics and reshape how research, knowledge sharing and disaster preparedness are undertaken in partnership with community.

The design of the program, organised and hosted by the BNHRC consortium’s Indigenous partner Jagun Alliance, was intentional.

“We were really looking to flip the traditional research script,” explained the Centre’s Indigenous engagement co-ordinator, Taya Barrett, “where researchers would come to community with preconceived projects… instead of it being really built from the ground up.”

The first day was reserved exclusively for Bundjalung mob and other Aboriginal guests, providing space to speak honestly about past experiences with extractive research approaches, and to articulate priorities, conditions for safety, and expectations for any future collaborations.

Walking on Country. Image courtesy of Jagun Alliance / Coedie McCarthy

'Partnerships grounded in place and people'

With that foundation laid, BNHRC researchers and agency participants were invited in on day two. Their role was clear: to listen.

Pre-reading detailed cultural protocols, expectations around reciprocity, and the principle that nothing discussed would be taken from Country without permission. Partnerships, if they emerge, must stay grounded in place and people.

As Taya noted, “You really do need to keep coming back and having the right relationships with the community members you’re working with.”

Reciprocal accountability was woven throughout the gathering's design. Rather than communities being accountable to research timelines and institutional requirements, researchers and government agencies became accountable to community priorities and Country's needs.

Time on Country, including witnessing a cultural burn at Minyumai Indigenous Protected Area and visits to Ngunya Jargoon Indigenous Protected Area with local knowledge holders, helped bring these principles to life.

Cultural fire practice is fundamentally about maintaining a good relationship with fire itself: understanding its needs, its rhythms, and its power.

Researchers new to cultural fire were struck by the confidence, calm and intimate knowledge underpinning the burn and by the relational approach underlying it all. Because cultural fire practice is fundamentally about maintaining a good relationship with fire itself: understanding its needs, its rhythms, and its power.

This relational knowing shows how Indigenous fire stewardship holds lessons for risk management, ecology and resilience. It is not simply a technique or tool, but a practice grounded in reciprocal accountability with Country and its elements.

Across all three days, participants stepped outside familiar comfort zones. Academic frameworks gave way to humility, curiosity and relational accountability.

For the BNHRC, the gathering marked another step towards new ways of working guided by Aboriginal communities.

Prof Nick Gill of WSU. Image courtesy of Jagun Alliance / Coedie McCarthy.