Flourishing Following Fire

An Indigenous-led Community Co-design approach to bushfire recovery impacting hundreds.

The issue

Tenterfield have recently been impacted by successive natural disasters at a devastating scale and frequency. This includes the bushfires in 2019/ 2020, swiftly followed by more of the same in October/ November 2023, along with long term drought and flash flooding(2018 – 2020). Besides increasing disadvantage in affected townships, many of the recovery approaches are delivered according to objectives and constraints that are not tailored to local communities, leaving places like Tenterfield unable to build true resilience against increasingly frequent and intense natural disasters. What is needed is Community-driven and designed projects that draw on internal resources to grow capacity.

The solution

Fuelled by a vision that community connections create longer-lasting change, Monash University led a Tenterfield Bushfire Learning Review to identify capacity for community co-design of recovery efforts. The resultant Fire to Flourish approach partnered with Moombahlene Local Aboriginal Land Council so that local elders could lead the way. The Landcare Enabling Program made it possible for the Granite Borders Landcare Coordinator to participate in this process, securing over $135,000 to support five different groups around Tenterfield, including 3 Landcare sub-groups: Tenterfield Natualists, Tenterfield Community Garden, Focus on Feathers; 1 community group: Bungulla-Bluff Bushfire Fighting Volunteer Community; and 1 shire-wide project for access by all shire residents.

The impact

The three Landcare sub-groups delivered a range of bushfire initiatives, including equipment purchase for fuel load maintenance and building wildlife habitat, removal of fire danger threats, installation of watering points and the revitalisation of community gar-den and natural spaces that these groups care for. The impact is also across the Shire and into the future. The Farm Gate project, for example, provided 1,200 free bushfire and other emergency signs for any resident of Tenterfield. The sign printer purchased through the project can be billed out on a business model, contributing to both GBLC capacity for self-sustenance and local business support.
Learnings
Granite Borders Landcare Committee developed strong relationships with the Fire to Flourish elders in our community, establishing a reputation of reliability, professional-ism and capacity to deliver. These projects enabled us to support our Landcare sub-groups to achieve their diverse objectives toward bushfire preparedness, and demonstrated our ability to work with our community and deliver at scale, thus proving the effectiveness of the Fire to Flourish community co-design model.