Indigenous Peoples’ Relationships with Outdoor Environments

Overview

For at least 65,000 years — the longest continuous cultural history on Earth — Australia’s First Peoples have maintained sophisticated, spiritually grounded, and ecologically sustainable relationships with Country. These relationships changed profoundly after European colonisation in 1788, with devastating consequences for both Indigenous communities and the environments they had carefully stewarded.

Note on language: ‘Country’ (capitalised) is the term used by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to describe the lands, waters, skies, and all living things they are connected to — it encompasses spiritual, cultural, and ecological dimensions simultaneously.

Pre-Contact Relationships (Before 1788)

Country as Identity and Responsibility

Indigenous relationships with outdoor environments were — and continue to be — fundamentally different from Western resource-management frameworks. Key principles include:

• Reciprocity: People do not simply take from Country; they have responsibilities to care for, nurture, and maintain it.
• Kinship with nature: Many groups hold totemic relationships with specific animals, plants, or landscape features. These spiritual connections encode ecological knowledge.
• Custodianship, not ownership: Country is not owned in a Western property sense; rather, people belong to Country and are responsible for its wellbeing.
• Intergenerational knowledge: Detailed ecological knowledge — plant locations, animal behaviour, water sources, fire patterns — was encoded in song lines, ceremony, and oral tradition.

Cultural Burning (Fire-Stick Farming)

One of the most significant pre-contact land management practices was cultural burning — the deliberate, low-intensity burning of Country to:

• Promote growth of food plants (e.g., yam daisies, Microseris spp. in Victoria)
• Drive and concentrate game (kangaroos, wallabies, possums)
• Maintain open grasslands and mosaic habitats
• Reduce fuel loads and prevent catastrophic wildfires
• Facilitate travel and communication across Country

The ecologist Bill Gammage (The Biggest Estate on Earth, 2011) documented how Aboriginal burning created a ‘managed landscape’ — what early European explorers described as ‘park-like’ was in fact the result of thousands of years of intentional environmental management.

Victorian example: The Kulin Nation (comprising Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, Wathaurong, Taungurong, and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples) managed the grasslands and woodlands of central Victoria through regular burning, producing the rich kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra) plains that sustained large populations.

Aquaculture and Engineering

• Budj Bim (Mt Eccles), Victoria: The Gunditjmara people constructed an extensive eel aquaculture system dating back at least 6,600 years — one of the world’s oldest aquaculture systems. Channels, weirs, and holding ponds in the lava flows trapped and farmed short-finned eels (Anguilla australis). This site is now UNESCO World Heritage listed.
• Fish traps: Stone fish traps at Brewarrina (NSW) on the Barwon River are among the oldest human-made structures on Earth, used by the Ngemba people.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Pre-contact Indigenous land management was not passive ‘living in nature’ — it was active, sophisticated, and sustained ecological health across the continent for tens of thousands of years.

Post-Contact Relationships (After 1788)

Immediate Impacts of Colonisation

European colonisation from 1788 onward catastrophically disrupted Indigenous relationships with Country:

The ‘Protection’ Era and Its Legacy

From the late 19th century through to the 1970s, State and Territory ‘Protection Acts’ controlled nearly every aspect of Aboriginal life — where people could live, who they could marry, whether they could speak their language. This systematically severed the intergenerational transmission of ecological knowledge.

Resistance and Resilience

Despite dispossession, Indigenous peoples maintained and continue to revive relationships with Country:

• Land rights movements: The 1976 Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act was a landmark, returning significant territories. In Victoria, the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 enables Recognition and Settlement Agreements.
• Native Title: The 1992 Mabo v Queensland (No 2) High Court decision recognised native title, acknowledging the ongoing legal relationship between Aboriginal peoples and their traditional Country.
• Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs): Under Victoria’s Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, RAPs are the primary authority on cultural heritage matters in their area, giving Traditional Owners formal decision-making power over land-use affecting their Country.
• Revival of cultural burning: Organisations such as the Victorian Traditional Owner Cultural Fire Network (VTOCFN) are reviving cultural burning practices across Victoria, working with Parks Victoria and the Country Fire Authority.

Case study — Dja Dja Wurrung, Victoria: The Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DJAARA) signed a Recognition and Settlement Agreement in 2013, gaining recognition over ~2.5 million hectares of Country in central Victoria. DJAARA now co-manages Djandak (public land) and conducts cultural burning programs in Castlemaine Diggings NP and surrounding forests.

EXAM TIP: The VCAA requires you to compare relationships before and after colonisation. Structure your answer around: spiritual/custodial relationship → dispossession/disruption → contemporary revival. Always use specific group names (not just ‘Aboriginal people’) and specific Victorian examples.

Comparing Pre- and Post-Contact Relationships

REMEMBER: Indigenous relationships with Country are not simply historical — they are living, contemporary, and legally recognised. Modern co-management arrangements represent an important evolution in Australian land governance.