Victor Steffensen is an Indigenous writer, filmmaker, musician and consultant applying traditional knowledge values in a contemporary context through creative, practical and artistic projects.
He is a descendant of the Tagalaka people from the Gulf Country of North Queensland and holds a Doctorate of Environmental Science. Much of his work over the past thirty years has been based on the arts and reviving traditional knowledge for community and environmental challenges. - particularly Aboriginal fire management, through mentoring, leadership, and on-ground training with Aboriginal and non-indigenous communities both nationally and internationally.
Current Work
He is the co-founder of Firesticks, which works with communities across Australia.
Victor has published a best-selling book called Fire Country which has been a major reference to his work.
He has also published the children's book Looking After Country With Fire. He has also published songs, "Cool Burning" and "Great Land" through his music label Mulong.
Talking Points
Healing People with Country
When we look at the urgent need to revive our cultures before they are lost, heal our landscapes with better fire management, or protect our rivers and waters. It all boils down to one important word that outlines where we are all at in this moment in time, Healing. When we look at the holistic way of viewing the world through the Aboriginal lens, everything is connected to the well-being of others. What ever we focus our attention on what needs healing in the landscape, seems to be a reflection on what we need to be healing within ourselves. It may seem like a simplistic repetitive concept of healthy country means healthy people, but it delves much deeper than that in a way that underpins us all, it may mean important changes right across the board for all of us.
Healing People with Country
Victor was very engaging with over 500 tickets sold both in Australia and internationally. The audience provided so many lovely questions and comments. ... keep reading The Australian Centre
