A new round of students have started a land management course designed to support Traditional Owners work on Country. It follows the first Certificate III of Conservation and Land Management held in 2018 at the Holmesglen Institute, which saw all of the graduates employed in land management roles after the course.
The course, which has been given the name Warreen Beek Rangers by the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, has been designed specifically for Traditional Owners and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to learn skills to work on Country, providing accredited training in skills such as pest plant control, revegetation, construction, chainsaw use, occupational health and safety and cultural studies.
Students will also have the opportunity to work on properties that have conservation covenants, providing landowners with the chance to understand traditional knowledge while the students can learn about practical landcare techniques such as plant identification and threatened species.
The Certificate is delivered through a partnership between the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, Trust for Nature and Holmesglen. It is offered freely to participants thanks to the support of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Zoos Victoria and the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority.
Trust for Nature’s Port Phillip and Westernport Regional Manager, Ben Cullen, said it was fantastic to get support to run the course again. “There are so many opportunities for the graduates, a wide range of organisations have conservation jobs, such as local councils, natural resource management groups and other government organisations.