A collaborative project that has leveraged just over $3 million in investment into three First Nations communities and rehabilitated 375 hectares of land in Central Queensland was celebrated last month.
Known as the Queensland Indigenous Land Conservation Project (QILCP), this innovative multi-year partnership between Barada Barna People, Yuwi People, the Woorabinda community, Greening Australia and BHP Mitsubishi Alliance delivered on a dual focus of both healing Country and co-designing ongoing economic opportunities.
From 2019-2025, the QILCP partners have collaborated on 29 projects aimed at restoration and sustainability, incorporating activities such as cultural burns and gully rehabilitation to heal Country. Their efforts have stopped 11 tonnes of sediment from reaching the Great Barrier Reef annually.
The project which has been jointly funded by BHP Mitsubishi Alliance and Greening Australia’s Reef Aid program also saw 63 First Nations people employed and 53 First Nations people complete training.
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) General Manager, Planning Technical and Environment, Sonia Winter said the project has created sustainable outcomes by bringing together Elders, Traditional Owners, Greening Australia and their expertise.
“It has co-designed pathways to First Nations-led employment and enterprise by healing Country and improving water quality into the Great Barrier Reef.”
The Project Reference Groups prioritised on-ground activities and training to support the aspirations the communities had to best advance care for Country, and to build each community’s capacity to achieve the goals in their Healthy Country Plans.
“With this partnership, it feels like our Elders and our rangers are leading the way and putting forward what they want, so that’s been really important,” said Melanie Kemp, a Yuwi representative.
One of the biggest successes of the project has been the additional $3.08 million in funding leveraged to support participating First Nations communities in establishing ongoing employment and economic development, including through emerging environmental credit markets (e.g. carbon and reef credits).
Greening Australia’s Manager of First Nations Engagement Richard Sporne said the sustainability of this project was very important.
“We didn’t want to be a fly-in, fly-out project that came and developed a plan and then just had those plans sit on a shelf.
“That’s why we established culturally endorsed Project Reference Groups with each First Nations group involved – to oversee the management and strategic plans developed using the Healthy Country planning process, the creation of appropriate on-ground training, and exploration of environmental market opportunities like blue carbon projects.”
For example, as part of the project, the Woorabinda Project Reference Group successfully applied for government funding for five full-time rangers, with their Healthy Country Plan translating into clear work plans, monitoring and evaluation plans.
Cultural burning workshops through QILCP also led to the development of a Barada Barna ‘Fire Team’, who helped restore a culturally significant wetland with cultural burns, and have since been awarded fee-for-service contracts for burns in neighbouring areas.
In partnership with Yuwi Aboriginal Corporation and Yuwi custodians of Country, the Yuwi Country Blue Carbon Wetland Restoration Project is being developed. Potential blue carbon sites are being assessed to create a project pipeline, building capacity both in restoring coastal habitats and in winning grants.
“There have been great outcomes environmentally and economically, but perhaps the greatest outcomes have been connected to how the project has supported the social and cultural wellbeing of these communities,” said Richard.
“The results from co-designed evaluation with the First Nations groups found that the project had supported these communities to have greater authority in decision-making about Country, to be able to apply Traditional Knowledges to caring for Country and to have the knowledge and lived experience of Elders respected and acknowledged, and to inspire youth and increase opportunities for young people to learn about Country.
“These are incredibly important achievements. The implementation and evaluation of this project has generated some significant learnings and it’s fantastic that the QILCP will continue to have an impact by informing Greening Australia’s partnership work with First Nations communities across the country.”
