 G'day, my name's Michael Shaw and I'm the Statewide Culture Heritage Advisor for CFA. We'll be looking at culturally significant trees and I'd like to start with the acknowledgement of the lands we're filming across, of elders past, present and emerging. I hope you really enjoy the content we're delivering. Aboriginal people cause scars on trees by removing bark for various purposes. The scars which vary in size expose the sapwood on the trunk or branch of the tree. This is an indicator of past land use and using resource material in the local environment. This is also a reflection too of different past cultures and connection with the environment they are interacting with. So when conducting a survey, and this example here is a 300 year old river red gum. So the signs we're looking for is has it been manipulated by humans? Can you see any inner workings or how they've taken the scar off? For this example, stone tools have been used to take off this coolerman. So as you can see here, there's a linear line or a straight line that comes through. With further investigation and seeing the use wear of the bark on this particular river red gum, this has been healed over. So when assessing trees or looking out for scarred trees, that could be a possible indicator of past use. Since the formation of VAS, the Victorian Archaeological Society in the 1960s to now, less than 5% of the state of Victoria has been surveyed for culture heritage. Scarred trees are tenure blind and exist in all parts of the landscape, from urbanised environment to rural and local communities to sensitive areas as well as unique and intercal parts of Victorian landscapes across the state. For further information, please look at the CFA Contingency Plan to understand what is the sensitivity area, how to protect and manage a recorded or unrecorded scarred tree and the process or steps needed to be followed for the further management of a scarred tree.