Yam Paddock project

The Yam Paddock project is supporting Dja Dja Wurrung women in cultural practices across private property in Central Victoria.

This project looks at the role of cultural fire in Aboriginal food production, which in time will increase the opportunities for the use of fire as an ecological management tool of precious and highly endangered native grasslands. 

The Yam Paddock project, lead by La Trobe University Centre for the Study of the Inland and Research Centre for Future Landscapes, and Dja Dja Wurrung, will look at how and where food plants were used in Victoria by Aboriginal people historically, as well as how fire can be used to manage their stocks. The project aims to consolidate existing anthropological, historical, horticultural and Aboriginal knowledge about particular Aboriginal plant foods used in South Eastern Australia. 

The project has established a Dja Dja Wurrung Women’s Knowledge group and has appointed two PhD positions to undertake historic mapping and research into the ecological effects of cultural burns.

Biolinks Alliance will provide a liaison role between the women’s group and private landholders, mentor the PhD students and participate in the project’s steering committee. 

This project is being made possible through funding from the Sallis Foundation and HMSTrust.