Field of Interest:           Environment
Grant Recipient:           Cape York Aboriginal Charitable Trust/Balkanu Development Corporation
Project:                        Traditional Knowledge Recording Project - Kuku-Thaypan Fire Research Project
MCF Sub-fund:             rmg Fund        

Building pathways for community development through revival of traditional (indigenous) knowledge within contemporary society.

The Traditional Knowledge Recording Project (TRKP) aims to support Cape York traditional owners to record and preserve their traditional knowledge and then to demonstrate its application to a wide variety of contemporary environmental, social and economic problems.

It does this by providing recording equipment and training, inserting and cataloguing recorded data into a database, providing editing and production facilities and marketing completed products.

Fire management is one of the components of traditional knowledge included as part of the TKRP. Because it has been a long time since the Elders have had the opportunity to undertake burning on their own terms, they are now being supported by western research while they reinstate their traditional regimes. Due to contemporary land-use impacts including; cattle, feral animals and plants, changed vegetation compositions and poor water management practices, the Elders are dealing with a highly modified environment.  Consequently, they have to adapt the application of their Traditional Knowledge System to ensure that they create the best opportunity to rebalance and heal country. This Knowledge is being record as they conduct their burning.  The Elders are also evaluating the burns of other land managers in the surrounding area, such as National Park Managers and Pastoralists.

To assist the Elders translate their shared knowledge into a language that is more easily accepted by western scientists and other land managers and demonstrate the application of their fire management knowledge a partnership PhD project – The Importance of Campfires to Effective Conservation – has also been launched.

For further information on this project go to www.tkrp.com.au