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This All-Female, All-Indigenous Australian Firefighting Crew Works 24/7 To Protect Their Sacred Land From Flames
Wildfires are destroying Australia on an unthinkable scale. And while the whole country is combating the flames, we want you to take a look at the efforts of one particular crew. The Lakes Tyers Aboriginal Trust Country Fire Authority, an all-women, all-indigenous brigade who are the perfect example of their people’s resilience.
Image credits: Country Fire Authority
Image credits: CFAChiefOfficer
The Lakes Tyers Aboriginal Trust Country Fire Authority was set up 20 years ago. Now, Charmaine Sellings, 52, is in charge of the group, and the fully-trained team have already had some pretty big fights under their belts. Like the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.
Image credits: Charmaine Sellings
Image credits: callapilla
Like so many parts of Australia, Lake Tyers in eastern Victoria has been suffering a crippling drought, so Charmaine and the Country Fire Authority Brigade have already forgotten about a summer break. Instead, they’re taking care of their tinder-box patch of sacred land.
“Things are pretty desperate,” Charmaine told Now To Love, “we are in extreme conditions, our dams are empty and it’s not a good situation.”
Image credits: DivCouncilAus
“The crew will work around the clock. We hope for a quiet summer but we fear the worst.” Charmaine’s crew is the country’s first all-indigenous, all-female fire brigade.
Image credits: NACCHOAustralia
“We are the lifeline if anything goes wrong, so we have an important role to play, and I think people are generally very grateful for what we do,” Charmaine says.
“It’s not that men aren’t welcome – in fact, we’d love the fellas to join us and help out!” Charmaine explained.
“Every now and then a fella comes along but they don’t seem to last too long. I don’t think they like taking orders from me,” she laughed.
Image credits: NACCHOAustralia
The brigade was born two decades ago when deliberately lit fires burned down a house. Since the nearest fire crew was a 45-minute-drive away, Charmaine and her friends Rhonda Thorpe and Marjorie Proctor asked the CFA to train them up to protect the culturally significant land.
Soon, they started knocking on their neighbors’ doors, looking for volunteers. Eight women signed up for the inaugural brigade.
“When we first set up the brigade, the men called us the Banana Women because of our bright yellow outfits. We had a giggle about it because they were a bit jealous of us, but the name stuck and that’s what we call ourselves today.”
To them and others who joined later, their work is not only about protecting the community, but preserving their story as well. “There’s ‘scatters’ (clusters of artifacts) all through this bush,” Charmaine said, as she showed an area just a short walk from her home where 179 artifacts were found.
The proud Kurnai woman then pointed to the eucalyptus with visible wounds from where the bark was stripped hundreds of years ago to make canoes, shields, and infant carriers.
Image credits: ABC
The area is also home to many significant sites that tell stories about the history of the local Aboriginal community. In 1863, after years and years of conflict between white settlers and the Kurnai people, the Church of England commandeered the peninsula and established a colony, called the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Mission.
Aboriginal people from all over Victoria were removed from their homelands with force and brought to the mission. One of these “stolen” children was Charmaine’s great-grandfather, who had to leave his family home near Healesville.
“He never understood why he was taken – no one ever told him. He was only a little boy, ripped away from his family,” she said. “There’s a lot of history here. We still have some troubles – grog and unemployment particularly – and discrimination.”
So far, Charmaine can’t hang up her bright yellow overalls yet. “I keep saying I’m going to retire, but I never get around to it,” she laughs, “I can’t imagine not doing it. This is our lives – it is part of who we are – it’s part of me now. They’ll bury me in my yellows!”
RELATED:
People applauded the crew and their efforts in fighting Australia’s wildfires
Image credits: AJCklimatet
Image credits: irishmanliam
What do you think ?
Pseudo Puppy 4 years ago
Thankyou ladies, for everything you're doing & have done since you started your brigade 20 years ago. Stay safe, and I hope you're given more resources to continue the amazing work you're doing, to protect such sacred lands, as well as those who live in your region. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.
Pseudo Puppy 4 years ago
@TammyOnly - I don't give a damn what you do on your own time, but SHAME ON YOU for doing it here, on this post, and showing absolute disrespect for what THESE women are doing to protect their community. Seriously.... you should be ashamed. BoredPanda, please get rid of these trolls.
Load More Replies...
Teresa Taylor 4 years ago
These women are doing a wonderful job. It's nice that their story is being told. However, I have an issue with the word "stolen" being in quotes when referring to the stolen children. By putting the word in quotes, it lessens the impact of what happened to those children. It makes it a "he said/she said" situation instead of an actual fact. The actual fact is those children WERE stolen from their aboriginal families and taken to white schools and families. They were forced to assimilate into the white culture because white was "better." It happened to Native Americans. It happened to Africans and Asians. It is perpetuated to this very day. It has to stop! Whites have to stop stealing and minimizing the identities of BIPOC. Race is a construct of society. Race does not exist unless we allow it to exist. We must dismantle this fallacy.
TheKnightOwl 4 years ago
You contradict yourself. You say race does not exist, but the premise of your post suggests otherwise. I know some of the Gunai/Kurnai people, some of which are from the generation of which you reference. Many have accepted the apologies offered to them, and understand that we are not responsible for the sins of our fathers. It seems to be more the white people who can't move forward, and insist on being offended on behalf of the indigenous people...which is extremely patronising. What is also patronising, is your generalisation of "whites" stealing the land and culture of others. I admit, the past is shameful and bloody, and I by no means minimise that... However, we are not going to solve anything by throwing accusations, pointing the finger, and blaming people who had no say in their lineage. You cannot heal pain of the past by making those of the future responsible. You're right, it has to stop...all of it. Enough with the blame, it leads nowhere good.
Load More Replies...
TheKnightOwl 4 years ago
There are some incorrect statement in the article. I live near lake tyers, so I know what's truth and what's embellished. The main point I want to clear up; Lake Tyers has not experienced drought this year. Australia is large, and much of NSW has experienced drought, but LT is in Victoria, and we have had a good year for rain (July was LT highest month at 109mm, and 62mm fell just last month) and it's currently raining. Also, all of Australia is not on fire. I won't deny that a large portion is burning, or has burnt this year, but it helps no one to stretch the truth. I live close to the fires, I've had family air evacuated by the Australia Defence Force, and heard stories that go unpublished; real stories that don't have an agenda. Please keep your information accurate.
Pseudo Puppy 4 years ago
Thankyou ladies, for everything you're doing & have done since you started your brigade 20 years ago. Stay safe, and I hope you're given more resources to continue the amazing work you're doing, to protect such sacred lands, as well as those who live in your region. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.
Pseudo Puppy 4 years ago
@TammyOnly - I don't give a damn what you do on your own time, but SHAME ON YOU for doing it here, on this post, and showing absolute disrespect for what THESE women are doing to protect their community. Seriously.... you should be ashamed. BoredPanda, please get rid of these trolls.
Load More Replies... Teresa Taylor 4 years ago
These women are doing a wonderful job. It's nice that their story is being told. However, I have an issue with the word "stolen" being in quotes when referring to the stolen children. By putting the word in quotes, it lessens the impact of what happened to those children. It makes it a "he said/she said" situation instead of an actual fact. The actual fact is those children WERE stolen from their aboriginal families and taken to white schools and families. They were forced to assimilate into the white culture because white was "better." It happened to Native Americans. It happened to Africans and Asians. It is perpetuated to this very day. It has to stop! Whites have to stop stealing and minimizing the identities of BIPOC. Race is a construct of society. Race does not exist unless we allow it to exist. We must dismantle this fallacy.
TheKnightOwl 4 years ago
You contradict yourself. You say race does not exist, but the premise of your post suggests otherwise. I know some of the Gunai/Kurnai people, some of which are from the generation of which you reference. Many have accepted the apologies offered to them, and understand that we are not responsible for the sins of our fathers. It seems to be more the white people who can't move forward, and insist on being offended on behalf of the indigenous people...which is extremely patronising. What is also patronising, is your generalisation of "whites" stealing the land and culture of others. I admit, the past is shameful and bloody, and I by no means minimise that... However, we are not going to solve anything by throwing accusations, pointing the finger, and blaming people who had no say in their lineage. You cannot heal pain of the past by making those of the future responsible. You're right, it has to stop...all of it. Enough with the blame, it leads nowhere good.
Load More Replies... TheKnightOwl 4 years ago
There are some incorrect statement in the article. I live near lake tyers, so I know what's truth and what's embellished. The main point I want to clear up; Lake Tyers has not experienced drought this year. Australia is large, and much of NSW has experienced drought, but LT is in Victoria, and we have had a good year for rain (July was LT highest month at 109mm, and 62mm fell just last month) and it's currently raining. Also, all of Australia is not on fire. I won't deny that a large portion is burning, or has burnt this year, but it helps no one to stretch the truth. I live close to the fires, I've had family air evacuated by the Australia Defence Force, and heard stories that go unpublished; real stories that don't have an agenda. Please keep your information accurate.
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