Bringing the voice of Country into the emergency control room

In a bushfire emergency control room, decisions are made fast – but for a long time, some of the most important cultural knowledge holders weren’t present.

'It's a two-way partnership – joining two knowledges together. To make change, you have to understand both worlds and build the bridge between them.'

Uncle Graham Moore, Senior Cultural Scientist, NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Emergency bushfire control relies on a highly specialised language dense with acronyms, procedures and hierarchies designed to prioritise speed. For Aboriginal custodians, rangers and cultural knowledge holders, entering these spaces has meant navigating not only unfamiliar terminology, but a long history of exclusion and imbalance.

‘There's a whole history of not having the confidence, not having the tools and not being heard full stop,’ says Uncle Graham Moore, Gurrungutti-Munji-Yuin Elder and knowledge holder, and a Senior Cultural Scientist with NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

The consequences of that absence were clear during the Black Summer bushfires. While fires tore through Country, there were few Aboriginal rangers in the control room. Cultural values were not deliberately ignored, but they were structurally invisible. Consequently, many irreplaceable cultural sites were lost.

In response, the 2020 NSW Bushfire Inquiry called for Aboriginal knowledge to be included in future bushfire risk management and planning.

That call helped catalyse the Fire and Country Cultural Values Project, developed by the Science and Insights Division of the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) in partnership with the Merrimans Local Aboriginal Land Council on Djiringanj Country.

‘Emergency response doesn’t normally practise for protecting cultural values – it practises for people and property,’ says Dr Greg Summerell, Senior Team Leader from DCCEEW’s Applied Bushfire Science Program.

And yet, bushfires can cause irreversible damage to cultural landscapes – from rock art and ancient stone arrangements to sacred men’s and women’s places, waterholes, songlines and habitats shaped by tens of thousands of years of custodianship.

In November 2024, 25 Aboriginal rangers were invited into a simulated bushfire incident control room as part of the Cultural Incident Management Exercise (CIMX), held at Bega Fire Control Centre. It was the first time cultural custodians from Community had been included in real-time emergency decision-making in this way.

Crucially, the project did not begin with fire modelling or emergency protocols. It began with 18 months of groundwork to strengthen relationships, honour kinship connections, and establish cultural authority and safety. That time was spent supporting the development of Aboriginal ranger teams and building trust between agencies and communities.

Central to this work is an understanding of ‘two-way speaking’: the ability to move between the language of emergency management and the cultural knowledge systems of Aboriginal custodians. ‘Graham and I are working out two circles of networks all the time. I'm working the government ones, he's working the cultural ones,’ Greg notes. ‘Together we are sharing the same messages, so everyone is informed.’

(Read more about this concept in AdaptNSW’s thought piece on ‘two-eyed seeing’.)

Two-way speaking when not everything can be shared

As the simulation exercise unfolded, agency staff began to recognise their own blind spots. ‘They had little idea about the depth of cultural values, beyond known individual sites,’ Greg says. ‘They generally only see a couple of dots on a map. For example, a couple of scar trees. In reality, Aboriginal cultural values are extensive and deeply layered, ‘and in this case those scar trees represent an intricate cultural landscape’.

While all Aboriginal cultural sites in NSW are protected under state legislation, only a small percentage are formally recorded. The remainder are held closely by community, protected through practice, memory and custodianship rather than documentation.

‘Around five per cent of cultural assets have been officially recorded,’ Uncle Graham explains. ‘And of that five per cent, only three per cent can be shown. The other two per cent are secret men’s and women’s business.’ This is why cultural protection is not simply a matter of mapping assets. It requires judgement.

When fire approaches, Aboriginal knowledge holders face an acute decision: how much should they disclose to protect cultural values and Country, without giving away what should not be shared?

During the exercise, rangers were asked to make those judgements under pressure. Scenarios included practical questions that fire managers had rarely confronted before: how water bombing might damage rock art, how fire breaks could cut through sacred women’s spaces, or how emergency access could harm ancient formations and habitats. Cultural values became live considerations rather than background context.

The exercise also showed that better decisions don’t always come from more data. They also come from having diverse perspectives in the room.

From fire response to a new way of working

The Fire and Country Cultural Values Project of the Applied Bushfire Science program has elevated the voices of Indigenous people in emergency management, while also supporting non-Indigenous people to listen and hear what Indigenous people are saying and why.

‘Just as much, if not more, damage to Country and culture happens during emergency mitigation measures, than pre-fire preparation works that are planned, with time to consult,’ Greg notes.

‘When people learn about our approach for the first time, two questions often arise: What is a cultural value? And wasn’t there always fire in the Australian landscape so why does it matter now? They’re fair questions,’ Greg adds. ‘But the bush is totally different now because of climate change altering the structure and types of vegetation, management approaches in general, pest and weeds and values shared by the wider community as to “what does being safe from bushfire look like”.’

For the Aboriginal rangers involved, the exercise has built more than technical capability. It gave them confidence that when disaster strikes, they are ready to speak with authority – and for their voices to be heard – so they can protect Country in real time.

‘Although this was about fire, the concept applies to flooding, coastal erosion, disaster recovery and can be part of standard protocols and procedures – to be just the way we do emergency management in Australia.’

-Dr Gregory Summerell, Senior Team Leader, Applied Bushfire Science Program, NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
 

While the CIMX focused on bushfire response, its implications extend beyond fire. The same principles apply wherever climate-driven emergencies place Country at risk.

The CIMX workshop was recorded in a documentary launched by the Secretary of DCCEEW Anthony Lean and Adam Goodes in October 2025. Since then, it has been screened at international forums, including United Nations’ and COP events. Emergency response teams as far afield as Canada and California have expressed interest in the approach.

After more than 35 years working across government, natural resource management and cultural heritage, Uncle Graham can see the effects spreading outward – or, as he says, the ‘ripples rippling’. ‘I’m chuffed to see the changes slowly taking place.’

Read more in the Australian Journal of Emergency Management, on caring for Country practices on Djiringanj Country.