Gurtha (fire) and its law was handed to us by our creation ancestors and passed to us from our old people. Our elders continue to hold and pass on this knowledge and Yolŋu fire protocols. Gurtha has deep meaning to us, it renews life, it brings us together, it feeds us and nourishes us and our Country physically and spiritually. Our ancestors, the Djulpan sisters, are the first to burn the Country, sometimes we see the smoke rising from the fire they started in other Country – and then we know it’s the right time for us to burn. We follow the indicators in our Country taught to us, and the directions provided from our elders about when, where and why to burn.  This is called worrk – this is more than just fire management – this is our way of burning.

Yolŋu djäkami are embracing new technologies and adding new approaches to complement our way of burning, to place fire in our lonely country again, to protect our homelands and support Yolŋu fire practices in a changing climate. We are supporting our elders to pass down their knowledge of worrk to us and younger generations. We have engaged in the carbon economy which is further supporting our fire djäkami programs and other homelands development aspirations. We retain control of when we burn and why and are carefully balancing these new ways so we never lose sight of our way of burning our Country.