New roles created to look after Country
Four new employees are looking after Country in South Australia’s Far West Coast in new jobs created through a remote jobs trial.
Our ancestors have been farming and looking after this country for thousands of years – burning, looking for animal tracks, revegetation, reading the country. We are doing what our ancestors used to do.
Proud Mirning man Richard Lennon-Lawrie who also represents Mutuntjarra, joins Ronald Freeman, Jordan Miller and Troy Newchurch in full-time jobs looking after Country in the Far West Coast in South Australia.
Far West Coast Investments are funded through the New Jobs Program Trial to create opportunities for local jobseekers in Indigenous Land Management.
Caption: Jordan is passionate about learning more about her Country and sharing knowledge with others.
For Jordan, she’s enjoying going to new places for work and being involved in community events – representing as a land management ranger at NAIDOC week, Ceduna Oyster Festival and local school events.
‘I want to learn a lot – I want to learn about animals, plants and be able to teach others,’ she says.
Now that we’re full-time, we can do more of the office-based jobs as well – like reporting, maintenance on cars, more trip prep, we can organise our own daytrips, doing our own surveys and patrols.
Caption: Being outside is one of the big positives of Ronald’s new job.
For Ronald, the new role is a welcome change.
Something different to what I was doing beforehand, it’s just a complete change in scenery, so I’m going from being in a tin shed as a tyre fitter to being in the outdoors, going camping, going along the coast, seeing all those different sorts of areas.
Another ranger, Troy is keen to learn more about his Country, and says, ‘I feel good working in this job. It’s good to get this opportunity, not many people get to do this job and working with new people'.
Caption: Troy feels lucky to be in this job, together with his colleagues.
All the new employees said they want to be able to ‘read’ Country, to listen, look, smell, observe, follow tracks, and know what the trees and plants can do, and the bush medicine.
‘When you do go out bush you can see that it’s been maintained, our land, by our ancestors, and we are walking fossils. I can picture myself an old man, still a ranger, I might be senior ranger by then, sitting around the fire with young kids teaching them how to be a ranger,’ Richard says.
Caption: Richard says rangers have been ‘part of our DNA for a very long time’.
Even though we finish work as a ranger, when we go home, we’re still being a ranger, to our kids, to our family, out bush, but you know, even before we were rangers, we were being taught to be rangers – always.
The employees are being supported with professional development including pest, plant and animal control, traditional and ecological knowledge transfer, and on-Country cultural camps.
The New Jobs Program Trial has helped inform the design of the new Remote Jobs and Economic Development (RJED) program. Eligible employers can apply for a RJED grant to help create new jobs in remote Australia.
For more information
Find out more: www.niaa.gov.au/remote-jobs