The great gatherings occurred in line with the bumper bunya nut crop around every three years. Lore was maintained at these gatherings including arranged marriages, trading and settling disputes. For these reasons the whole of the Bunya Mountains landscape can be considered as highly significant cultural heritage. In Barrungam language, the Bunya Mountains are known as Booburrgan Ngmmunge, meaning mother’s breast or mother’s milk, which refers to the nourishment Bunya country provides to its people, and the connection between Aboriginal people and the Bunya Mountains (Markwell et al 2010).

The BPAC Ranger team has a strong focus on reviving fire practice in the Bunya Mountains. Aboriginal people use intensive and strategic fire management practices in the Bunya Mountains and surrounds to facilitate access to and from the Bunya gatherings, and to create ideal habitat mosaics for hunting. Since the decline of the Aboriginal gatherings in the Bunya Mountains in the 1870’s, the absence of this intensive and strategic fire management has led to a decline in the extent and health of the grassland balds, and the open Eucalypt forests with grassy understoreys. For this reason, fire management in the Bunya Mountains has high significance for both cultural and ecological reasons.

Aboriginal fire management to maintain grasslands and grassy open forest habitats was multi-purpose. It enabled access across country, provided refuge for species of cultural importance, and also supported prime habitat for grazing animals that were important foods in Aboriginal peoples’ diets.