Indicator 6.5d: Resilience of forest-dependent Indigenous communities to changing social and economic conditions (2024) - Supporting information

Forest and wood products industries are defined here using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 2021 categories for forestry industries and wood products industries: 030 Forestry and Logging; 051 Forestry Support Services; 140 Wood Product Manufacturing, not further defined; 141 Log Sawmilling and Timber Dressing; 149 Other Wood Product Manufacturing; 150 Pulp, Paper and Converted Paper Product Manufacturing, not further defined; 151 Pulp, Paper and Paperboard Manufacturing; 152 Converted Paper Product Manufacturing.

Data are not readily available on the economic dependence on forests resulting from other forest users such as apiarists, graziers, and ecotourism operators, and thus these activities are not considered in this Indicator. Other indirect business activities connected with forest and wood products industries, such as input suppliers, training providers, transport contractors and timber wholesale businesses, are also not considered.

Data were drawn from:

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2016). Census of Population and Housing, Census TableBuilder, accessed 15 December 2022. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2021a). Census of Population and Housing, Census TableBuilder, accessed 15 December 2022. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2021b). Census of Population and Housing, Customised report, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2022a). Census of Population and Housing, Customised report, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2022b). ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra. Accessed 21 April 2023.

Resilience has been defined in a culturally specific context as “The ability to have a connection and belonging to one’s land, family and culture, therefore an identity” (Usher et al. 2021), and characterised as the connections within identity, culture, spirituality, access to traditional lands, environment, sense of belonging and connectedness (Kickett 2011; Young et al. 2019). However, the value that Indigenous peoples place on the different benefits from forests may vary depending on the local context, and the connections and values of each community.

Australia’s Indigenous people have used fire to manage landscapes for thousands of years. In modern times, the application by Indigenous people of landscape management skills using fire is called ‘cultural burning’. This typically involves small-scale, low-intensity patch-burning during the cooler months of the year, when fire is easily controlled and does not reach the canopy (Feary 2020).

Cultural burning engenders individual and community feelings of well-being and satisfaction. Being embedded in millennia of traditional cultural activities, it forms a core part of Indigenous cultural identity and pride. Using fire involves intricate traditional knowledge passed down from generation to generation, and is nested in ancient spirituality, customary laws, traditions and social organisation. Cultural burning keeps Indigenous people connected with Country and facilitates community gatherings and collective activities, allowing for storytelling, advocating values and enacting traditional roles in communities.

The bushfires of 2019-20 in Australia had significant impacts on communities, families, and the natural environment. Many human and animal lives were lost. The area of forest burnt in the fires was 8.5 million hectares.

In New South Wales, the south coast towns of Cobargo and Quaama experienced significant damage from these bushfires. To the west of these towns is Biamanga mountain, a place of significant Indigenous cultural heritage. The recent history of Biamanga mountain includes struggles between environmental and conservation principles, Indigenous cultural heritage, and the forestry sector, including following the establishment of the woodchip mill at Eden in the early 1970s.

For Indigenous people, the koala totem has played an important role in limiting bushfire threats. Dan Morgan, a cultural fire practitioner working with Firesticks Alliance, described what he witnessed as the Black Summer fires reached the top of Biamanga mountain. The fire “just sat down, and they trickled around here for more than a month”. He evoked it was “like the old spirits of the land just sat that fire down and protected the koala habitat” (ABC 2022).

Reflections drawn from areas of the NSW south coast (Gulaga and Biamanga National Parks) demonstrate the connection and care for Country that is critical for Indigenous people’s wellbeing and resilience:

Stories, songs and ceremony for south-eastern Australia indicate the koala has an important role as a creation ancestor, director of migration for ancestors and wise counsellor. The koala is also connected to women’s knowledge and responsibilities for Gulaga, Wadbilliga and Dignams Creek areas through spirit entities that inhabit these areas and have connections to the koala. (Wesson 2003). 
        We will help protect them [koalas] from fire by applying low intensity burns in small patches in appropriate locations surrounding identified areas of koala activity to provide low-fuel buffers against wildfire. Our traditional burning practices will help us achieve this. We will also carefully consider the location of koala activity areas when planning responses to wildfire and try to minimise the impacts of wildfire and back-burning in these areas (OEH 2014).
        The [Gulaga and Biamanga] Boards will support efforts to improve knowledge about where koalas are and what Country is important for them. They will support monitoring programs that assess how they are going. The Boards will also support koala habitat rehabilitation in areas near to and between the Mountains so that koalas have more Country to expand into. (OEH 2014). 

The local impacts of the Black Summer bushfires were surveyed by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment between April and October 2020, in the northern section of Biamanga National Park (NP) and in catchments to the west and east of Lizard Road, which forms the boundary between Biamanga NP and Mumbulla Flora Reserve. Koala pellets were found at 14 of 75 grid sites in the North Biamanga survey area and at two of the 55 grid sites in the Mumbulla survey area. The survey team also found koala pellets at other locations in the survey areas outside the grid sites, including pellets from a female koala and juvenile in each survey area. The koala population in these areas is now being surveyed on an ongoing basis with various stakeholders including Indigenous owners, neighbouring landholders, agencies, universities, and the local Koala Action Network, which is supported by the Far South Coast Landcare Association (NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment 2021).

ABC (2022). Traditional Indigenous burning protecting last-known koalas on NSW far south coast. abc.net.au/news/2022-04-17/koalas-saved-by-traditional-indigenous-burning/100988672 (accessed 17 January 2023).

Feary SA (2020). Indigenous Australians and fire in south-eastern Australia. In: Leavesley A, Wouters M and Thornton R (2020). Prescribed Burning in Australasia: The science practice and politics of burning the bush, Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council Limited (Melbourne: Victoria)

Kickett M (2011). Examination of how a culturally-appropriate definition of resilience affects the physical and mental health of Aboriginal people. Doctoral dissertation, University of Western Australia.

NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (2021). Saving our Species: NSW Far South Coast post-fire koala survey 2020. Environment, Energy and Science, Sydney. CC BY 4.0.

OEH (2014). Yuin Bangguri (Mountain) Parks Plan of Management Incorporating Gulaga National Park and Biamanga National Park. Office of Environment and Heritage, Sydney, environment.nsw.gov.au/research-and-publications/publications-search/yuin-bangguri-mountain-parks-plan-of-management, accessed 15 May 2023.

Usher K, Jackson D, Walker R, Durkin J, Smallwood R, Robinson M, Sampson N, Adams I, Porter C, Marriott R (2021). Indigenous resilience in Australia: A scoping review using a reflective decolonizing collective dialogue. Frontiers in Public Health 9: 630601. doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.630601

Wesson S (2003). Koalas and the people of south eastern Australia. Report for the Koala Recovery Program (South East Management Area), NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney.

Young C, Craig JC, Clapham K, Banks S, Williamson A (2019). The prevalence and protective factors for resilience in adolescent Aboriginal Australians living in urban areas: A cross‐sectional study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 43: 8-14. doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12853