THE acclaimed Barapa Water for Country project will be showcased at a community event in the Gunbower Forest on Wednesday night.
The two-year project started last year to increase the involvement of traditional owners in the management of the forest.
“It’s essentially about getting traditional owners’ voices in the management of Gunbower Forest,” said Robyn McKay from the North Central Catchment Management Authority, which conducts the project with State Government funding.
“We have lots of ways to describe the environmental values of places but cultural values often get forgotten about, so we need to make sure they’re considered in the management.”
Barapa Barapa custodians will host a community walk and talk on Wednesday night from 6pm at Tree Tops Scout Camp.
Ms McKay said the team would share knowledge about past traditional life in the forest, with support from archaeologist Dr Colin Pardoe, who has been a technical adviser on the project.
“There has been a lot of interest in the Barapa Water for Country project, so Wednesday night will be an opportunity for people to come along and hear what it’s all about,” she said.
Dr Pardoe said huge amounts of archaeological significant sites could be found throughout the forest.
“We’ve been focusing on what you might call the villages, which are large residential areas typically near lagoons and swamps,” he said.
“The evidence contained in earth mounds at these sites is quite considerable, because they have been built up over thousands of years.”
Dixon Patten is one of several traditional custodians involved in the project.
“We’re coming back to country to learn and understand from our elders, and I’ve brought my own boys to teach them how to do culture,” Mr Patten said.
“Today we’ve done a scar tree and made a coolamon (a timber carrying vessel); people say we don’t practice our culture anymore but we do.”
Mr Patten said returning to country had helped him leave behind a troubled life.
“For me a big part of coming home to country is getting healed and getting away from drinking and smoking,” he said.
