Indigenous Female Fire Brigade In Australia Is Working All Day Long To Protect Their Community

Australian residents have been greatly affected by the deadly flames for the last several months. That's also the case for the Aboriginal community of Lake Tyers in eastern Victoria. This isolated peninsula has actually experienced even worse conditions since there is only one access road in and out of the area. Not to mention the history of suffering crippling droughts in the summer, making the 200 residents who call the lakeside 5000-hectare land home among the most vulnerable in the entire country.

But there is always hope. More specifically, hope for the Aboriginal community lies in the courageous female fire crew led by Charmaine Sellings. Their leader recently spoke to Now To Love about her work, explaining how her crew has been fighting to protect their sacred land during the country's most dangerous fire season on record. In an interview with Women's Weekly, Ms. Sellings also said that locals widely appreciate her group.

I just got back from Lake Tyers community, where about 40 people are preparing for another bad day on Saturday. They’re running out of water and only have a slip-on tank for the ute. Charmaine Sellings, the fire captain, is worried but she says the community is holding together. pic.twitter.com/2uJKpTLtsn

— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 1, 2020

Sellings' Country Fire Authority Brigade is the first of its kind in the country, comprising of a highly-skilled group of mothers and grandmothers who are always prepared to spring to action at a moment's notice. These women are the backbone of the remote Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust, a self-governing Aboriginal community in the State's far east that is hemmed in by thick bush on one side and an extensive lake system on the other.

.@NACCHOChair Meet the all-female Indigenous fire crew protecting the Lake Tyers community ( East Gippsland) family and sacred land . #AustralianBushfiresDisaster

A highly-skilled bunch of mothers and grandmothers @IndigenousX @marcialangton https://t.co/BVEYquuRRm pic.twitter.com/mi6Xpg5sIM

— Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands ❤️💛🖤 (@NACCHOAustralia) January 7, 2020

The Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust CFA was born almost twenty years ago when a series of deliberately lit fires threatened to burn down the culturally significant land. With one house destroyed in one of the fires and the nearest fire crew 45 minutes away, Sellings and her friends Rhonda Thorpe and Marjorie Proctor decided to take matters into their own hands. The three women quickly gathered volunteers from the tiny township, and a brigade of eight women was formed.

Meet Australia's first all-female Indigenous fire crew protecting community, family and sacred land.https://t.co/VA85oRAaOK pic.twitter.com/abvRDV7OBT

— DiversityCouncilAust (@DivCouncilAus) January 8, 2020

While women have been actively involved in fire services in Australia for over a century, it is still rare to find all-women crews, much less an all-Indigenous one. The Lake Tyers fire crew now has a core team of four women with several others volunteering when they can.

Lake Tyers Fire Brigade Firefighter, Charmaine Sellings is pictured with the brigade’s new Ultralight vehicle that adorns CFA commissioned artwork ‘Working Together’. Lake Tyers brigade is CFA’s only Indigenous brigade, led by a team of Gunaikurnai women. pic.twitter.com/pQIhsHeaoG

— CFA Chief Officer (@CFAChiefOfficer) November 4, 2019