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Following a year-long traineeship, the inaugural Darumbal trainee rangers celebrated their graduation at Shoalwater Bay Training Area.
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The program was launched in 2021 following years of planning to provide the local Custodians, the Darumbal People, opportunities in land management, revegetation and conservation at one of Defence’s primary training sites.
The program is a partnership between the Department of Defence, Downer Defence, the Darumbal People Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC, TAFE Queensland, and Downer Defence’s service delivery partner Ecosure, an environmental consultancy.
According to Jacob Bonisch, head of Downer Defence, the partnership will protect Defence land while providing opportunities to local First Nations communities.
“This traineeship is an important partnership created to protect and sustain Defence land and provide meaningful opportunities for Indigenous communities on Country,” Bonisch said.
“These 450,000 hectares are important to the Darumbal People, and this partnership has demonstrated what can be achieved with the right intent.”
The program shared essential land management knowledge between the Darumbal People and the partners, Darumbal Traditional Custodian Malcolm Mann said.
“These are the sorts of commitments that give us an opportunity to advance our capability in land and sea Country management. We have a custodial responsibility to our Country and commit to look after our land and sea Country,” he explained.
“It is a credit to all involved that 100 per cent of the cohort are successfully graduating — not an easy feat”.
“The trainees have learned Downer Defence’s and the ADF’s ways of doing their business and applying their knowledge. We have found our partners at Shoalwater Bay Training Area equally eager to learn more about connection to Country that Darumbal People have had for over 2,000 generations,” Mann said.
Made up of eight trainees, the first intake undertook a Certificate III in conservation and ecosystem management through TAFE Queensland while Ecosure provided hand-on experience.
According to information provided by Downer Defence, the program provided participants with insight into:
- Implementing a plant establishment program
- Implementing a landscape maintenance program
- Maintaining biosecurity through the control of weeds, plant pests, diseases, and disorders
- Providing information on plants and their culture
- Work health and safety processes
- Environmentally sustainable work practices
- Carrying out inspections for designated areas
- Performing machinery maintenance
Graduation ceremony was held on Country at Shoalwater, with the next all-female cohort welcomed.
“It has been an honour to be part of this collaboration, seeing the graduates grow their knowledge over the last 12 months, and helping guide the training to ensure culturally significant and environmentally significant sites were worked on by the team,” Diane Lanyon, director of strategic partnerships at Ecosure, said.
“The wonderful project of revegetating Munda Creek will ensure the new trainees have a site to nurture, grow and further develop — a wonderful handover between these cohort,” Lanyon said.
