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About Local Land ServicesOperating since 2013, Local Land Services is a NSW Government agency that brings together agricultural production advice, biosecurity, natural resource and emergency management into a single organisation. Greater Sydney LLS (GS LLS) is one of eleven regions across the state. Each region is accountable for delivering services that add value to local industries, enhance natural resources, protect industries from pests and disease, and help communities respond to emergencies like flood, fire and drought. | |
NAIDOC Events Sydney 2023 |
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Update from the Greater Sydney LLS Aboriginal Advisory Group The AAG has continued to guide the work of GS LLS in Caring for Country and connecting with First Nations people and culture, meeting twice since the last newsletter, in March and again recently in June. Through these meetings the AAG have reviewed and provided advice on a range of plans as well as funding applications put forward by GS LLS to ensure that First Nations aspirations and importantly outcomes are included in the way LLS undertakes its commitments.
The AAG would also like to acknowledge the involvement, hard work and dedication to the committee of Uncle Robert Lester who is leaving the AAG after many, many years volunteering his time, energy and experience in support of the work of GS LLS. Uncle Rob is moving to warmer days in southern Queensland and the AAG wish him all the best in this new adventure. Thank you, Uncle Rob, for all of your input over the years, you will be greatly missed! Presently there are a few vacancies within the AAG, therefore the current AAG members are encouraging First Nations community members out there to consider putting forward and EOI for this important committee to join us in helping guide GS LLS and the work it does into the future. Please check out the article in this edition to find out more. As always, the AAG continues to look forward to providing further updates to the community on the work we are involved with GS LLS through future editions of Yarnin' Up.
We are currently calling for new members to the GS LLS AAG!
The AAG is a local community advisory group established under the Local Land Services Act. 2013 for the Greater Sydney LLS Board. The AAG was founded to progress activities within its charter including consultation with First Nations people on the strategic direction of Greater Sydney LLS and make appropriate recommendations to the Board. The inclusion of Aboriginal community engagement at both a state and local level is a highly important aspect for Greater Sydney LLS and with the guidance of the local AAG, Greater Sydney LLS can achieve inclusive outcomes in its business through advice on the engagement of Aboriginal communities.
Within the Greater Sydney region there is a complex and multi-layered Aboriginal community, therefore Greater Sydney LLS actively seeks guidance and collaboration through the AAG to shape and deliver its outcomes. Through the AAG, strategies, plans and projects are carefully and culturally considered, so outcomes on Country assist First Nations communities to realise meaningful and achievable results.
Expressions of Interest (EOI) for membership to the AAG are now open until 14 July 23. GS LLS is seeking EOIs from First Nations / Aboriginal people living or with connections to the Greater Sydney region to express their interest in becoming a member of the Greater Sydney Local Land Services Aboriginal Advisory Group. Please use the following link for the geographic area covered by the GS LLS region.For further information around the purpose and function of the AAG, please click HERE to read Terms of Reference.
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‘Through an Indigenous Lens’ Caring for Country with Fire |
For countless generations First Nations communities of the region understood, maintained and practiced the use of fire within their everyday life from cooking and campfires to the use of fire to manage, protect and enhance different types of Country (natural systems / eco-systems). For First Nations peoples, fire also held significant ceremonial and spiritual importance, intimately connecting everyday life and the sacred. Cultural Burning is a term used to describe the practice developed and maintained by First Nations people over innumerable millennia in the use of Traditional Fire Knowledge to manage the health of Country which in turn ensured the health of people. Cultural burning is an adaptive process used for various purposes, such as ceremony, the protection of important cultural and natural features, the management and regeneration of food, medicines and material resources, enhancement of plant health, animal habitat protection and overarchingly the healing and balance of Country. This practice looks after the land, waters, plants and animal within Country, providing a highly productive source of food and abundant wildlife. This provided First Nations communities fulfilment of their needs while sustaining resources for future generations. This deep time knowledge including the areas in Country where cultural fire was a continual part of the landscape was disrupted and systematically ceased as a result of colonisation in this region. With the absence of Traditional Fire Knowledge and Cultural Burning the nature of Country has changed, being further altered by increased wildfires and altered fire regimes. However, there is growing awareness and desire from First Nations people as well as land and water managers, and the broader community to understand, reclaim and reintroduce the role of fire in managing Country. Fundamentally this is reviving the holistic cultural relationship, knowledge and practice interwoven between people and fire. The reclamation is both an ecological and cultural journey, holding longer term consideration to carefully achieve. Within the Greater Sydney region, several agencies are supporting First Nations communities in this process. Greater Sydney Local Land Services has taken an active role in assisting the revival of Traditional Fire Knowledge and Cultural Burning with an increasing number of Cultural Burning projects supported in recent years. To find out more please contact the Aboriginal Communities Team to have a yarn around Caring for Country with Fire.
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2022 Burn in Dharawal Country
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2022 Burn in Dharug Country
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2022 Burn in Gundungurra Country
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Another 2022 Burn in Dharug Country
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GS LLS CARING FOR COUNTRY – funding opportunities NOW Open Caring for Country is embodied in First Nations culture and beliefs, ensuring Country and the physical and spiritual features as well as the beings within it remain healthy and balanced through sustainable approaches, for generations to come. The features and beings within Country, be it land, water, fire, animals, plants, places, natural features and even seasons are respected and cared for with a deep dignity and abiding respect, following enduring traditions and practices. Through this intricate understanding First Nations people view this responsibility through an interconnected web of kinship, physically and spiritually binding people and Country. GS LLS acknowledges the central importance that Country holds for First Nations peoples, recognised through the development and implementation of the GS LLS Caring for Country program. This program aims to support First Nations organisations and groups to develop projects that benefit Country and, through this, provide holistic outcomes for First Nations communities. GS LLS is pleased to announce that first round Expressions of Interest (EOI) will be open from now until 31 August 23, for Caring for Country projects from 2023 / 24 up to the end of the 2024/25 financial year. This provides the opportunity for projects that may need longer to deliver or are seasonally dependant with more time to achieve the wanted outcomes. Alternatively, smaller scale, short term projects are also welcomed.
EOI forms can be found on the GS LLS website with submissions lodged electronically. Grants of up to $20,000 are available. GS LLS is happy to provide assistance in developing projects or partnering with organisations where appropriate. Similarly, if your organisation has a proposal for a longer-term project please also get in touch to yarn about this further.
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Sister Bee Above ^
Brother Fly to the Right >
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‘Through an Indigenous Lens’ THE STORY of SISTER BEE & BROTHER FLY |
"Once upon a time" Sister bee and Brother fly lived together in harmony, sharing a great castle together (symbiotic relationship). Sister bee was a formidable farmer collecting many organic compounds from all the plants and animals. Brother fly possessed many ways to detect resources over vast distances and led Sister bee to the most abundant and rich ecosystems to harvest.
This arrangement had been in place for many thousands of eons and had witnessed the growth of thousands of cities and millions of citizens. Brother fly had become obese and lazy as the world continued to flourish producing more and more food, making his job so much easier. Sister bee continued to farm and build and maintain the cities while Brother fly hung out at the billabong with all his mob. As time marched forward the world began to change, more and more new species arose all looking for their niche. The climate also started to change creating food and resource shortages. The bees warned Brother fly of the changes and that they would have to find new farming lands as food was becoming scarce.
Brother fly did not listen, living in luxury for so long had blinded him to the truth of the world. Finally, Brother fly decided to leave the billabong and see for himself. He flew for days looking for new sources of food and found little, hungry, and tired he returned to the village to rest.
When brother Fly arrived home, he found all the doors had been made smaller by Sister bee. Over the past 10,000 years of limited food Sister bee had to work longer and longer and had become smaller and smaller. To this day Brother fly can still bee seen buzzing around Sister Bees hive saying let me in I’m very hungry!! Once upon a time, if we place a time stamp on this story, we would bee around 150 000 000 million years ago. This aligns with the growth and decline of the insect world through oxygenation and other global climatic events. Ending Brother fly’s sweet run was climate change, unless we adapt, we perish (Evolution).
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"Dingos" Natural Resource Management Seen from Space. https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/dogs-not-gone-wild-dna-tests-show-most-wild-dogs-australia-are-pure-dingoes
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Pure dingoes with colourful coats are often mistaken for feral dogs. Photo: Michelle J Photography.
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Professor Mike Letnic, senior author of the study and professor of conservation biology, has been researching dingoes and their interaction with the ecosystem for 25 years. He says they play an important role in maintaining the biodiversity and health of the ecosystem.
“As apex predators, dingoes play a fundamental role in shaping ecosystems by keeping number of herbivores and smaller predators in check,” says Prof. Letnic. “Apex predators’ effects can trickle all the way through ecosystems and even extend to plants and soils.”
A study published last month found the long-term impacts of these changes are so pronounced they are visible from space. But despite the valuable role they play in the ecosystem, dingoes are not being conserved across Australia – unlike many other native species.
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That time of year again, the Cane Toads are one up after the first round!! Best luck to both sides in round two!! The real Cane Toads won't be sent home by giving them a touch up on the footy field. The battle to control the Cane Toad invasion is happening now on the streets and in the parks around Greater Sydney. See below for more information on this serious Biosecurity incursion.
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Update from our Indigenous Trainee: Minya nhama? Warrungan wiyaybaa nhama! What's that? That’s a Cane Toad! |
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New cane toad invasions have recently been reported in the Sydney, North Coast, South Coast and North West regions. Cane toads pose a serious biosecurity threat in Australia and are considered a pest because they:
- poison pets and injure humans with their toxins
- poison many native animals whose diet includes frogs, tadpoles and frogs' eggs
- eat large numbers of honey bees, creating a management problem for bee-keepers
- prey on native fauna
- compete for food with vertebrate insectivores such as small skinks
- may carry diseases that are can be transmitted to native frogs and fishes.
Sydney, North Coast, South Coast and North West communities can help keep their regions safe by reporting any sightings to NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI). Anyone coming from cane toad infested areas such as Queensland or the Northern Territory are being asked to check their luggage, vehicle or trailer to ensure they are not bringing a cane toad into NSW.
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"NEVER SEEN THE FOREST FOR THE TREES" |
Growing Canopies to counter Climate Change - Many forest canopies have been reduced in height with the continued logging and clearing of our trees. Not only do we need to plant more trees to replace those destroyed, the young survivors need our support to grow to new/old heights. Raising the canopy height of all our forests to pre colonisation levels is one way we can push back the climate clock and protect our flora and fauna. Greater Sydney Landcare continues to look for opportunities to plant trees to support habitat and shade on private and public land. They are especially looking for sites where trees are in most need.
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'Grow Big Again Young Ones'. Image P. Ridgeway.
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Recent GS LLS Reconciliation Week Event On 23 of May, just before National Reconciliation Week (NRW), the team at GS LLS along with representatives of the AAG came together in Dharug Country, on the important Hawkesbury river at the GS LLS Demonstration Farm to celebrate this year’s theme 'Be a voice for generations'.
Led by highly experienced cultural knowledge holders, the team and their families participated in cultural activities which continued to strengthen their appreciation of First Nations culture, while spending time to have a yarn, and learn more around the stories of First Nations peoples.
GS LLS wants to acknowledge the work of Les and the Aboriginal Communities Team for bringing this event together and recognises that activities like this, especially where children can experience First Nations Cultures supports their journey in becoming the voice for the next generation.
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Thanks for reading the fifth e-edition of the Greater Sydney Local Land Services Yarnin' Up newsletter.
Please feel free to forwarded to other Aboriginal community members and organisations that may be interested in the newsletter.
We always welcome your feedback and input and would love to hear from you if there is specific information and resources you would like to see showcased in our upcoming editions. Please feel free to get in touch if you have suggestions, compliments (or complaints) on the content. You can also keep up to date with the latest news about our projects, programs and other initiatives via social media.
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Greater Sydney Local Land Services acknowledges we operate in and deliver services throughout Country of First Nations people in the Greater Sydney Region.
We recognise and respects Elders and cultural knowledge holders, past and present, while acknowledging the unique and diverse enduring cultures and histories of all First Nations people.
Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
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The information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing. However, because of advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that the information upon which they rely is up to date and to check the currency of the information with the appropriate officer of Local Land Services or the user’s independent adviser. For updates go to www.lls.nsw.gov.au
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Greater Sydney Local Land Services Lvl 4, 2-6 Station Street, Penrith, NSW, 2750, Australia
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