Country is an urgent call to learn from Indigenous knowledges to care for the land

“We know we can do better than this, don’t we?”

This line sits towards the concluding paragraphs of Country: Future Fire, Future Farming^[1], by Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian activist and author Bruce Pascoe and non-Indigenous historian Bill Gammage.

The book is part of the wider six-part “First Knowledges” series published by Thames and Hudson in collaboration with the National Library of Australia. It focuses on a collection of topics, including astronomy, design, law and, in the case of this book, Country.

As stated by editor Margo Neale in the introduction, the overarching series is designed to “stimulate and provoke you to enlarge your mind and expand your worldview to encompass limitless other possibilities, including ways in which you can learn from the Aboriginal archive of knowledge embodied in Country.”

For many, the book will be a timely invitation to be a part of constructive dialogue and a call to take action, especially in light of the lacklustre resolutions from COP26^[2] and following the Black Summer bushfires^[3].

For myself, a non-Indigenous scholar researching waters throughout Eora Country, I humbly come to this review with deep awareness of my position, and firmly take up the invitation to be part of this dialogue and follow through with action.

Read more: How the Dark Emu debate limits representation of Aboriginal people in Australia^[4]

A conversation between experts

Country: Future Fire, Future Farming is crafted to present the two authors’ own personal perspectives, while drawing on rich evidence to support their claims.

After their co-written opening chapter, Pascoe starts off the book’s first three solo-written chapters. Then, Gammage takes over with the next four, before they round off their thoughts in two distinctly separate but ideologically similar concluding chapters.

Thames & Hudson Australia^[5] At the core of their book, Pascoe and Gammage affirm in varying ways that Aboriginal people were - and are - farmers and agriculturalists. Pascoe expands on this in his chapters by describing the ways Aboriginal peoples have made use of the plants and animals across Australia. According to Pascoe, using and understanding these knowledges can make farming in Australia better. Gammage’s chapters focuses almost entirely on fire – its use by Aboriginal people as a tool to farm the land, and the detrimental misunderstandings of Aboriginal fire practices appropriated by non-Indigenous people. Consistently throughout the book, there is a subtle dialogue that emerges between the two authors. The dialogue could at times be more pressing, especially when contrasting perspectives arise, such as their differences in dating Aboriginal people’s presence on the continent or their interpretations of particular terms. On their own, the wonderfully detailed chapters provide ample room to reflect on key ideas (farming and fire) which both authors have become known for. That said, at times, I craved a more emphatic conversation between the two.