February 10: A Burning Question – Di Collier

Fire in the landscape has been perceived as a threat to us but this is a relatively new perspective with broader implications than just bushfires. Is fire a remedy for our increasingly sick country?

Di Collier has a private nature refuge, Dungi Yandi, in the headwaters of the Mary River, near Conondale in the Sunshine Coast hinterland which she has owned for almost 50 years. In 2018, she was a popular speaker at an Ecological Society of Australia (ESA) conference- “Di was a vibrant and engaging speaker and people were very moved by her journey from someone who initially ‘hated’ fire (because of the management she had experienced first-hand) to someone who actively uses fire as a land management tool”. (QFBC e-news)

Di is passionate about bringing the community together to appreciate the natural environment and thus instigate positive change through knowledge sharing. She speaks about fire from the perspective of using it as a land management tool. Hers is a personal story of deep observation and caring for country where the land itself has shifted her thinking and attitudes. Di proposes, “Can we, as a nation be sensitive to hearing what the country is crying out to us?”

On February 10th, at the next Friday Forum, hear more about Di Collier’s transformation of her property and how she has used fire to rehabilitate the landscape.

Everyone is welcome at the NPA Environment Centre, 5 Wallace Drive, Noosaville. The forum starts at 10:30am and morning tea is available at 10-10.25am. Entry is $5 by “tap & go” at the door which includes morning tea/coffee. 

Join the bird observers at 8.30am in the carpark for interpretive birding.