Kate van Wezel

PhD student
About
Kate van Wezel
The inclusion of women in fire management across remote Indigenous communities in northern Australia is the focus of Kate van Wezel’s PhD. Kate’s work follows women in the Waanyi and Garawa country in the remote south west Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory, analysing their subordination in fire management practices. Working with these women in their communities, Kate has helped to design the Waanyi-Garawa woman ranger program and helped the rangers to produce a booklet documenting the process. The program allows women to build new skills and confidence through their ranger work and allows them to be able to participate fully in managing their Indigenous Protected Areas. Her research is providing a case study of successful collaborative land management in remote Indigenous Australia, and a gendered analysis of the caring for country movement as a strategy towards community resilience. Kate is currently Women and Youth Coordinator for the Northern Land Council’s Caring for Country branch.

Student project

This research provides a case study of successful collaborative land management in remote Indigenous Australia, and a gendered analysis of the caring for country movement as a strategy towards community resilience. By employing resilience theory as a framework for analysis, this project contributes to the broader parent BNHCRC project “Enhancing remote north Australian community resilience”.
Supervisory panel:
31 Aug 2020
Key findings: Ongoing dispersal shapes intercultural collaboration with women caring for sentient...
Collaboration with women caring for country on Australia’s frontier
19 Sep 2018
In the remote southwest Gulf of Carpentaria, Waanyi and Garawa peoples have been experiencing...
Kate van Wezel Conference Poster 2016
12 Aug 2016
Waanyi-Garawa rangers in the remote south-west gulf of carpentaria have long awaited inclusion of...
Towards Culturally Appropriate Fire Management in the Waanyi and Garawa Lands
18 Aug 2015
Culturally appropriate frameworks for Bushfire and Natural Hazards management are critical to...

Send a message to Kate van Wezel (via CRC)

User Contact