“We got forgotten about, but we have come back to take our place,” says Devena Cox, who leads the Nyul Nyul female rangers, based in Beagle Bay on the Dampier peninsula of Western Australia.

Cox, a Ngumbarl/Nimanburr Nyikina woman, is talking about the role of women in looking after country.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Devena Cox and Debbie Sibosado. Photograph: Kimberley Land Council

Cox and a fellow ranger, Debbie Sibosado – both are native title holders – are part of a group of 50 female rangers from across the Kimberley who met last week at the spectacularly beautiful Windjana Gorge to talk about everything from building career pathways to operating power tools.

“It really helps to create a sense of identity,” says Sibosado, the Bardi Jawi Oorany ranger coordinator. “We are learning every day as rangers from our elders. When we go to the schools, the kids get very excited when they see the rangers coming. We are very much role models to them.”

Cox says: “In our communities there is the clinic, the school, the shop or there’s CDP [work for the dole]. There are no other jobs. Being a ranger means an income, as well as training.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The female rangers at Windjana Gorge in the Kimberley. Photograph: Kimberley Land Council

The job is so in demand, Cox says, that when funding was available in 2014-15 women would turn up to work even though they earned less than they would have received in welfare payments.

In 2014-15 they were funded through the Abbott government’s $350m Green Army initiative. The policy was axed in 2015 but the rangers say it was a briefly successful way to get more women trained and employed.

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Across Australia, there are about 120 Indigenous ranger groups. The federal government’s Working on Country program allocated $800m over 10 years to 2023 – $660,000 a program each year – but there are no funds targeted specifically at Aboriginal women.

The national auditor is preparing to assess the economic and social benefits of ranger programs. Anecdotally they are viewed as a success story for employment and the environment.

In Arnhem Land the Warddeken rangers use traditional and modern fire management skills to help control the timing, intensity and scale of bushfires.

From that practice has come the West Arnhem Land fire abatement project under which industry, government and community work together to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Since it began in 2006, rangers have abated more than 1.7m tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lillian Bin Kali, Helena Williams and Devena Cox at Windjana Gorge. Photograph: Kimberley Land Council

Across the top end, the pride in the ranger uniform is high, and it is contagious. “Being out on country, being one with the country, the feeling is indescribable,” Cox says. “You don’t get that feeling in a town, or even our community. Out there, you’re at peace.

“You’re busy when you’re out there working but when you sit back, you see that everything connects and there’s a purpose to it all.”

The women control invasive weeds, do burnoffs according to traditional seasonal knowledge and track endangered species.

“We say we work with plants, but we are not just looking at plants,” Cox says. “Those plants tell us about the seasons. Which fruits are growing or what’s flowering tell you what fish are running, what animals are ready to hunt. It’s all connected.

“Sometimes we don’t realise the value of what we have in this country.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Samantha Hiranni Simler Nugget, a member of the all-female Ngurrara rangers helicopter crew. Photograph: Kimberley Land Council

Says Sibosado: “We know our country. We do our burning off at the right time, to protect endangered plants and animals. We monitor marine debris – it’s a major problem.”

Clearing plastic off remote beaches is a big job for rangers all across the northern coastline of Australia. Last year the Dhimurru rangers in eastern Arnhem Land collected two and a half tonnes of rubbish, including 20kg of cigarette lighters and 32kg of plastic bags: roughly five times the amount they collected in 2016.

“Men rangers do the marine work on the water, women are land-based,” Cox says. “But we are getting more and more involved in what they do.

“We’ve been so good at our work that the men have had to step up,” Sibosado adds, laughing. “They can see our potential. They see they’d better watch out because we could be taking over!

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ngurrara rangers log a sighting of wild camels. Photograph: Kimberley Land Council

“As coordinator I love being there, working with younger women. You’re working to build their confidence and their self-esteem. They have to talk to tourists, talk to schools. Over the past five years I’ve rally seen those young girls grow.”

There’s no shortage of work and no shortage of women who’d like to do it, but the barriers are funding security and access to formal training.

“Certainty is needed,” Cox says. “You can’t look after country if you’re only funded on a six-monthly basis.”

Sibosado says: “As a coordinator, I’d say we are vastly under-represented. Less than 30% of rangers are women. The employment situation is getting better but funding is a big issue.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Ngurrara rangers’ chopper takes off. Photograph: Kimberley Land Council

Both say the job is a privilege and an honour.

“We are going to keep fighting for ranger programs,” Sibosado says. “Because we know how good it is for our country and for the younger generation. We are working to break the stereotypes of Aboriginal women and we will achieve it.”

“We walk with our heads high,” Devena Cox says. “We will break that barrier for Aboriginal women in Australia. In looking after country, women play a big role.”