Fourteen trainee Aboriginal rangers have begun the Tebrakunna Ranger Workforce Development Program after its on-Country launch at Tebrakunna in Tasmania's far north-east.
Derived from the traditional name of Cape Portland, the program offers the trainee rangers from across Tasmania the opportunity to participate in a fully customised course delivered by training partner, TasTAFE.
Funded by the Melythina Tiakana Warrana Aboriginal Corporation (MTWAC) and Tasmanian Community Fund, the two-year Certificate III in Conservation and Ecosystem Management course consists of on-Country weekend workshops complemented with online study and individual and group project work, with ongoing employment outcomes a key focus of the program.
MTWAC Chair Nick Cameron said the program in being rolled out with the vision of returning a parcel of existing pastoral land at Little Musselroe Bay back into a culturally managed traditional landscape.
"The ranger program will play a significant part in MTWAC developing its commercial and land management capabilities and strengthen our capacity to undertake our regional business growth plans," Mr Cameron said.
"This will actively demonstrate how traditional Aboriginal land management practices and on-Country rangers can positively impact the environment".
The Tebrakunna Ranger Training Program will align closely with the National Indigenous Ranger Training Program and include culturally specific training such as cool burning, Aboriginal heritage management and understanding Aboriginal cultural protocols.
"Projects the rangers will undertake on our traditional lands and sea country will include vegetation regeneration through cool burning and replanting, invasive plant and animal management and control, rubbish clean-up, land maintenance and possibly some tourism signage or walkway development," Mr Cameron said.
"The rangers will also do some important surveying and monitoring of cultural sites and sea country resources in and around the Cape.
"For all of us it is the start of an exciting journey in working and caring for our traditional homelands and sea country".
Mr Cameron said MTWAC's ranger development program is being implemented not only for developing commercial programs but also in preparation for potential land returns following a future Treaty with Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
"In preparation for a State Treaty and potential for negotiated regional land returns, we are wanting to develop our capacity and resources for managing Aboriginal Land that may be returned, a workforce of trained and skilled rangers will give us that capability," he said.
The Tebrakunna Ranger Program is the first major community workforce development program undertaken by MTWAC, with the program expected to contribute to the local north-east economy by engaging Aboriginal people in a fully funded Indigenous Ranger Program in the future.
