Using Indigenous Knowledge to Manage Healthy Country

This panel asks what constitutes 'Healthy Country' and discusses the design and efficacy of Healthy Country management plans. The panel will consider how Healthy Country management plans can empower Indigenous communities and the broader Australian community. Healthy Country is a Research Theme program funded by the Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne.

Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher is a Wiradjuri man and Director of Research Capability at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute. He is also a physical geographer and Assistant Dean (Indigenous) for the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne. Michael’s interests are in the long-term interactions between humans, climate, disturbance, and vegetation at local, regional, and global scales. His current work involves looking at historical environmental records from across the Southern Hemisphere to reconstruct how the environment has changed.

Maddi Miller is a Darug woman living and working on unceded Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Wilam Biik. She is an archaeologist, artist, writer, and is currently a research fellow at The University of Melbourne. Maddi’s research focuses on storytelling as a mechanism for bringing together multiple ways of knowing. Maddi has previous experience working in government and she has worked with researchers through the National Environmental Science Program to ensure Indigenous Knowledge Systems are respected in research.

Jack Pascoe is a Yuin man who grew up on Gadabanut Country before leaving to study Environmental Science at Deakin University. Jack completed a PhD with the University of Western Sydney, where he studied the predators of the Blue Mountains. His key fields of interest are fire ecology and biocultural landscapes. Jack works as Conservation & Research Manager at the Conservation Ecology Centre in the Otways and as a Research Fellow in the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

Matthew Shanks is a proud Taungurung man who is the Cultural & Natural Resource Management Strategic Advisor Taungurung Land & Waters Council. Matthew previously worked as the Natural Resource Management Policy Advisor for the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owners Corporations where he advised over significant policy programs such as The Victorian Traditional Owner Cultural Fire Strategy.