Graeme, thank you for that - Jambie's comments mirror those of Indigenous
people I know.
Once out at Gudjekbinj, western Arnhem Land, a lady in her mid-seventies I
called "sister", came out driving with me to visit an area of the country
she'd not seen for decades - the understorey was of tangled Imperata and
Heteropogon triciteus. Immediately she wanted "matches" to "clean up" the
country.
On another occasion I was out there in July with relatives and guests from
the Australian Museum Society, when a man I called "son", as near a
traditional man as one could find in the area, decided to show the children
how the country was burnt in a traditional way. He made torches out of
stringybark and guiding the kids showed them how to fire the speargrass.
Some of the adults nearly had a fit, but Djedje (my child), knew what he was
doing, of course. The widely spaced speargrass burnt rapidly at first and
then slowed right down.
Those Kunwinjku people were worried about all the burning they saw along the
Arnhem Highway, telling me it was "too much".
Denise
On 5/9/13 2:43 PM, "Graeme Stevens" <> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> "Hazard Reduction"? Certainly important and hope I don't drift too far off
> topic here with the attached. It mortifies me as well to see my patch around
> Sydney going up in flames in the peak breeding season: Is it not that in
> wishing to live in, or on the edge of, natural ecosystems - and having removed
> the original "land managers"we now find ourselves wedged in a conflict of
> extremes. We burn excessively to protect our ordered suburbs, monocultures and
> plantations or try to preserve to the detriment of necessary cycles (eg on
> heathlands) Here is a little historical record from an old grazier friend at
> Bombala NSW. Roger Giller also knows him well - and I am sure Denise will
> empathise! Bear with me and read to the end for some thoughts on what may
> once have been more the norm (and I know there are more scientific works on
> the subject of previous fire regimes) Graeme Stevens (and I still haven't
> found a White-throated Grasswren!)
> ----------------------------------------------
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------------------------------
>
> "JAMBIE" around
> 1906
>
>
>
> Thought to be over 70 years old
>
> His story as
> told to me by my Father Badan
> William Bruce .
>
>
>
> When Charles
> and Helen Bruce had a General Store
> for basic supplies
>
> on their farm which was on the right hand side of the highway, on the steep
> decent
>
>
> down
> the hill to Rocton (Still known as Bruces Pinch).
>
>
>
> Living
> in a sturdy hut with a lean- to
> on their farm was a very old man named Jambie
>
> who said he
> was the last of his small tribe that had lived in the Rocton (NSW) and area
>
> South
> East of there, before white
> settlement . They had suffered
> so very badly ,
>
> when Measles and Scarlet Fever etc.
> caused the death of so very many in that tribe.
>
> Jambie , stood almost 6 feet tall. My Father remembered his large strong
> white
> teeth
>
> and
> his stories of when he was young.
>
> He
> was an outstanding hunter. He was
> very much liked by the people of
> Rocton.
>
> They gave him food , clothing and
> care, in return he
>
> hunted
> Foxes and Dingoes with success, when they were troubling the valley.
>
> He
> had the use of an old .22 German rifle
> and was given tiny .22 short
> bullets
>
> to use as needed.
>
> Dingoes he hunted , when, they were killing
> stock at night . He would go out with
>
> the
> rifle in the dark of the night, almost
> always returning with a fresh
> Dingo skin..
>
> He
> enjoyed the fact that he could easily outwit them, on even terms, in the dark
> of
> night.
>
>
>
> When lightning started summer fires and there was a rush to control
> them.
> He would
>
> be
> angry and upset. He would say that when the Fire Sprits
> made hot summer fire it must burn - burn - burn.
>
> He would say over and over ,That bush was too thick now. No fires each year -
> The bush
>
> is
> too thick, No fat animals. Not enough animals, Bush is sick,
> too thick. Fire be
>
> big
> big soon, kill all animals in trees.
>
>
>
> Now
> a hundred years on we still control
> the yearly summer fires to the
> best of our ability.
>
> We
> cannot, and do not, Just let them burn - burn- burn until enough rain comes.
>
>
>
> It
> makes me ponder ?, Just what he remembered when he lived in " Pristine Bush"
> as
>
> a child
> and young man "
>
> Compared to what we see and would like to think is
> " Pristine Bush " ?
>
> some 60 years
> later.
>
>
>
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