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Your task as you explore this issue through the National Museum of Australia’s display and other resources is: to create an annotated bushfire map of Australia that provides a viewer with ideas of what, where, when and how bushfires exist, their impacts, and their management. You will be given more ideas about this at the end of the unit.

As you work through this unit you will explore these important aspects of bushfires:

What is a bushfire?

Where do bushfires occur in Australia? Why?

What effects do they have — on people and the built and natural environment?

How can they be managed? For what purposes?

Whose responsibility is it to manage them?

Are bushfires really ‘natural hazards’?

INVESTIGATING A NATURAL HAZARD

For many Australians summer is bushfire time, a time of threat and devastation.

In the summer of 2003, for example, bushfires devastated parts of Canberra and the ACT. Four people died and 500 houses were destroyed — together with many wild animals, pine plantations, natural bushland, farm animals, pets, property and irreplaceable family possessions.

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But is it enough just to see bushfires as a natural hazard, or should we be aware of the complex place of bushfires in Australia? That is the issue that you will work through in this unit. It is also an issue that is explored in a display in the National Museum of Australia.

At the end of this unit students will be better able to:> describe the nature of bushfires in Australia> decide the extent to which bushfire is a natural hazard in Australia> analyse the geographical processes associated with it> discuss its economic, environmental and social impacts> critically analyse the responses of individuals, community-based

groups and governments to it.

CURRICULUM OUTCOMES

National Museum of Australia display:Fire in the city – 1994 Bushfires in Sydney and 2003 Bushfires in CanberraPhotograph George Serras

1© National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 2004

The National Museum of Australia at Acton opened in March 2001 as part of the celebrations for the Centenary of Federation. The Museum employs a fresh and exciting approach to Australian history, culture and environment.

Each National Museum unit of work in STUDIES asks students to consider the stories and concepts behind Museum themes, objects and images, and can be used with students in Society and Environment, History, Geography, English and Media Studies.

INVESTIGATING A NATURAL HAZARD in Australia

What is a bushfire?2investigation

What do you know? What do you think?1investigation

1 Here are the main natural disasters that have occurred in Australia in the last 200 years. Rank them in order of greatest loss of life (1–12). (You can check your answers on the back cover.)

2 One of the natural disasters in this list is bushfires. What are the first ideas and images that come into your mind? List them.3 Where do bushfires occur in Australia? Mark them on this outline map. Explain why you have selected those places.

Before tackling this unit answer these questions. Then come back to this quiz again at the end of your studies and see if any of your answers have changed.

4 When do bushfires occur during a year? Why do they occur then?5 What are the major problems caused by bushfires?6 What are the major advantages?7 Whose responsibility is bushfire control?8 What are the three main causes of bushfires?9 What are the three elements needed for a bushfire?10 List five main elements that determine a bushfire’s severity.11 Which area of Australia has the most bushfires?

Bushfi res Disease epidemics Drought Earthquakes Volcanic eruptionsHeatwaves Landslides

Severe storms at sea Tsunamis Severe storms on landTropical cyclonesFloods

When you were asked for your ideas about bushfires in question 2 of the quiz, chances are that many of your ideas were of destruction — charred bushland, loss of livestock, destroyed houses, even human deaths.However, fire is a natural element and has been among the driving forces in

Heat produced naturally or by human actions

the evolution of native flora and fauna. Australia would not be Australia without bushfires.What is fire?A bushfire is an unplanned fire in an area of natural vegetation. During a bushfire three elements are involved:

2 © National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 2004

The size and intensity of a bushfire is influenced by many factors, including:

Wind speed and directionWind affects a fire by increasing the amount of oxygen available, and affecting the rate of burning. If the wind is blowing in the direction the fire is moving, burning material will fly ahead and spread the fire more quickly. If the wind changes direction it can turn the long flank of a fire into a wide front, increasing the severity of the bushfire.

Weather conditionsFires tend to be more severe on hot days with low relative humidity. Humidity refers to the degree of moisture in the air. Low humidity dries out the fuel, making it more easily flammable.

Testing your knowledge and understandingLook at this map and answer the questions about it.1 Fires have started at A, B and C. Explain why locations X, Y and Z are to some extent protected from the fires.2 Which fire — A, B or C — would you expect to burn the greatest area? Why?3 The fire at A is fanned by strong wind gusts from the south-west. How could this lead to fires at B and Y?4 There are three steep hills, with houses at S, T and U on those hills. Which of the three has the best chance of surviving the fire? Why?5 Fire B is being fanned by strong winds from the west. If all the vegetation in its path burns, what distance will the fire travel to reach the creek?6 What might reduce the chance of this happening?7 If the winds are causing the fire to travel at 0.5 kilometres per hour, how long will it take for the fire to reach the creek?8 The fire reaches the creek, and the wind changes, now coming from the south-east. Describe the effect of the wind change on the direction and size of the fire.9 What would now be threatened by the fire?10 A fire starting at point C burns towards the east. The creek is dry in summer, so the fire crosses it. Would the fire travel faster as it approached the creek, or as it moved past it? Explain your answer.

TopographyFire usually travels faster uphill than on level ground or downhill. A fire moving uphill moves more quickly because the flame is closer to the unburnt fuel, and pre-heats it, causing it to ignite more readily. The rate of spread of a fire doubles with every ten degrees of increase of the slope.

Fire in the Australian Landscape, Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Country Fire Authority, 1999, page 14

Living in the Bush, Country Fire Authority Victoria, 2004, page 5

State of the fuelA period of high vegetation growth followed by hot, dry weather can dry out vegetation, and provide for a more intense fire.

Nature of the fireFire may be a ground fire (slow, smouldering fire with no flame and little smoke), surface fire (where it is the litter and low-lying vegetation burning), or crown fire (where the fire moves rapidly through the canopy of the overstorey or top layer of vegetation). All three types may be present at the one time.

3© National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 2004

Australia is the most bushfire prone continent. Why?Australia is dominated by drought- and fire-tolerant vegetation, such as the eucalypts. This was not always the case. Australia was once dominated by bushfire-resistant rainforest. Why did it change? We do not know. There are several theories, but all are based on limited and fragmented evidence.Originally Australia was dominated by rainforest type vegetation. Then climate changed naturally over time, becoming drier. So this theory says that drought-tolerant vegetation gradually took over from the rain-dependant vegetation, spreading north.Another theory builds on this, and argues that the climate changed naturally, but was assisted by fire. The drought-tolerant eucalypts are also fire-dependant, so as fires increased, they spread the eucalypt into newer areas across the continent.Others argue that climate change was assisted by the extinction of the megafauna. (See STUDIES 1/03.) These animals ate large volumes of vegetation, in effect keeping the bush clean. As they died out (either because of climate change or hunting by Aboriginal people), vegetation became thicker, creating larger bushfires that attacked the rainforest areas, and helped the advance of the fire-resistant eucalypts.

Type of fuelDifferent fuels create different types of fires. Moist fuel creates low-intensity fires. Dry fuel creates high intensity fires.

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Forests and Fire, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Melbourne, 1998 page 24

Where do bushfires occur in Australia? Why?3investigation

Opposite is a map of Australia showing different fire patterns in each state and territory. The numbers refer to the regions in the table below. Use the table showing the months of greatest fire

Place Region Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

NSW 1 Coastal strip Sydney–Brisbane

3 Arc from just below the border with Qld and SA through Canberra to Victorian border

2 Area between the above two

NT 1 Area between Darwin and Tennant Creek

2 Area between Tennant Creek and just above Alice Springs

3 Just above Alice Springs to the SA border

QLD 1 North Coast coast in an arc from Cairns through Mt Isa then straight to the NT border

3 From NT border continue to near Brisbane, then drop to the NSW border

2 The area between the above two

SA 3 Thin coastal strips from Vic border to WA border

1 Area from WA border across to just below the NSW/Qld border

2 The strip in between the above two

TAS 1 All

VIC 2 Coastal strip from Warrnambool to SA border

3 Straight line from coast up to NSW border, in line with Canberra

1 The strip between the above two.

WA 5 From bottom of Perth straight across to the coast, then in a thin strip following the coast to the SA border

1 Straight line from NT border level with Tennant Creek to the coast

4 A line at 45° from under Geraldton to above Kalgoorlie, then straight across to the SA border

3 An arc from Shark Bay up just below Port Hedland and then to the NT border, above Alice Springs

2 The remaining area of WA

activity to draw a series of boundaries of fire seasonality in Australia. One example has been done to help you.

= Occasional outbreaks of fire

= Normal outbreaks of fire

© National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 20044

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1 How many different fire regions are there in Australia?2 Describe the pattern of these regions.3 Suggest reasons why this pattern exists — taking into account weather and vegetation.4 Compare your map with the one on the back cover.5 Below are three weather maps showing high risk bushfire conditions for three different areas of Australia. Match the three explanations to the appropriate weather map shown, and mark the indicated features on them using the appropriate letters.

The northern Australian fire season occurs during the warm, dry and sunny winter and spring, when the grasses are dead and the fuels have dried. In summer, a strong high pressure system over South Australia can bring south-east to north-east winds that increase the fire danger in the southern parts of Western Australia.

This caption suits weather map .

The fire season for most of Australia’s east coast extends from spring to mid-summer. The greatest danger occurs after the dry winter/spring period, before the onset of the rainy weather common in summer. The worst conditions occur when deep low-pressure systems near Tasmania bring strong, dry, westerly winds to the coast, as occurred in the major New South Wales fires in January 1994.


Summer and autumn are the most dangerous times of year in south-east Australia. The highest temperatures occur during these seasons and in most years the grass and forests have dried out by mid-summer. A typical dangerous fire situation occurs in south-eastern Australia when a vigorous cold front approaches a slow-moving high in the Tasman Sea, causing very hot, north-westerly winds. This was the situation with the disastrous Victorian Ash Wednesday fires of 16 February 1983. The passage of the cold front can cause the winds to suddenly change direction, shifting fire direction abruptly. Fires driven by a strong, steady wind are usually long and narrow. When the wind changes with the passage of a cold front, the long side of the fire can suddenly become the fire front.


Weather map 1 www.bom.gov.au/inside/services_policy/fire_ag/bushfire/highnswq.htm

Weather map 2 www.bom.gov.au/inside/services_policy/fire_ag/bushfire/highwant.htm

Weather map 3 www.bom.gov.au/inside/services_policy/fire_ag/bushfire/highnse.htm © National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 2004 5

What effect do bushfires have on the natural environment, the built environment , and people’s lives?

4investigation

You are about to look at the major impacts of bushfires.As you work through the information, summarise your ideas in a table like this. Some examples have been done to help you.

Impact on … Immediate impacts of a fire Longer-term impacts of an inappropriate fire regime

People

Property

Native animals Some perish, many are able to escape, some become prey through lack of cover, others are able to take advantage of the lack of cover and find prey more easily.

Vegetation

Insects

Farm

Business

Economy

Water If water in a catchment is polluted by erosion of the soil this could create a crisis in the area’s drinking water supply.

Air

Other? (List any)

Impacts of bushfire on the natural environmentThe impacts of bushfires on the environment can differ according to the nature of that environment.

Here are two case studies of fire in two common but different vegetation types — a eucalypt forest, and tropical savanna. The description is of the impacts of an individual fire, but the more important element is not the effects of a single fire, but of a fire regime in the area — that is, the sequence of fires over a period of time.


Case Study 1:Eucalypt forestCharacteristicsA eucalypt forest is characterised by a large eucalypt overstorey, with a multi-layered structure of smaller trees, then bushes and grass.

TreesThese require a high intensity fire for germination. Such a fire also changes the amount of light, transpiration and wind, so that the nature of the vegetation cover can be changed. If fires are too frequent, some species, such as the mountain ash, will disappear to be replaced by others that are more fire-tolerant. The entire overstorey could be changed in this way.http://audit.deh.gov.au/ANRA/vegetation/docs/biodiversity/bio_assess_acacias.cfm

AnimalsMany individuals are killed during fires, but rarely so many as to threaten a species. Others are subject to predation after the fire through lack of cover. Mobile animals are best able to survive. Some, such as wombats and echidnas might be able to shelter in burrows or logs. Snakes flee. Possums may seek safety up high.

InsectsMany are killed by the burning of the bark and litter that are their preferred habitat. Flying insects can flee.

SoilsLow intensity fires result in little change, but high intensity ones may alter the chemical structure of the soil. They may cause a change in the soil’s permeability (its ability to absorb water) and create erosion.

WaterFires can affect streamwater quality through the flushing of soil and nutrients into the streams if there is heavy rain soon after the fire.

http://audit.deh.gov.au/ANRA/vegetation/docs/biodiversity/bio_assess_acacias.cfm

1 Add information to the table.2 Use this diagram to explain what happens to light penetration, transpiration and soil erosion after a major high intensity fire.


3 Which animals are most likely to escape?4 A Greater Glider might escape the fire, but not the after-effects. Why?5 After fire, animals that live on the ground and under shrubs are more visible and have fewer places to hide. Which of the animals above might benefit from this?6 Wombats and koalas both live in a forest. Compare their chances of surviving a fire.7 Sequence this diagram 1–4 showing different stages before and after a bushfire.

Here is a food web found in an ecosystem.



Sequence: Sequence:

Sequence: Sequence:

© National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 2004 7

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Mature mountain ash

Regeneration (including canopy and understorey plants

Burnt tree

Understorey plant

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Case Study 2:Tropical savannaCharacteristicsTropical savanna covers 25 per cent of the Australian landmass. It is the vegetation and area that burns most frequently. There are different types of fires, depending on the timing of the fire. Most fires are started by lightning strikes. Early dry season fires tend to be low intensity, as the fuel still contains moisture from the preceding wet season; later dry season fires can be high intensity, as the fuel has dried out. The intensity of the fire also depends on how long it has been since the last fire: frequent fires thin out the fuel available; long gaps between fires leads to a build-up of fuel, and consequently much fiercer fires.

AirIn a typical year, tropical savanna burning releases about 80 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. This compares with about 70 million tonnes from Australian vehicles and industry each year. However, the following growing season absorbs about the same amount each year in the savanna.

SoilEach fire reduces the nitrogen content of the soil, impoverishing it.

WaterThe effects of savannah burning on streams can be dramatic. It creates erosion, and consequently a degraded water quality. Some water-borne vegetation benefits from this infusion of nutrients in the water.http://savanna.ntu.edu.au/centre/

AnimalsThe major effect of fires on animals in the area is indirect — it changes the nature of the habitat and food supplies, and creates the risk of predation due to loss of cover. Some animals become ‘winners’, with easier prey available, and others become ‘losers’, as they turn into easy targets. Small mammals such as bandicoots are very vulnerable to fire, as they cannot escape. Larger species such as dingoes easily outrun it, and can move into unburnt areas. Tree-dwelling species such as possums are especially vulnerable to late season, high intensity fires. There is no one type of fire that benefits all species.

BirdsMany take advantage of fire. Flocks of black kites gather at fire fronts, eating insects and other small animals flushed out by the flames. After fire, scavenging birds such as hawks and kookaburras feed on dead and injured animals, and on exposed seeds and nuts, and a few weeks later on insects attracted to new growth. Birds such as Partridge Pigeons and finches and honeyeaters, who often nest on the ground or very low in trees, lose habitat.

ReptilesPredatory and scavenging reptiles such as snakes and goannas ‘clean up’ after fires.

InsectsFires have little overall effect on them, regardless of the type of fire.

1 Add any information to your table.

The National Museum of Australia includes part of this statement by Bill Neidjie, an Indigenous man of the Kakadu area.2 What effects does fire have on this environment?3 Why would Indigenous people in the area want to encourage this?4 Does this action seem controlled or random? Explain why. To help you answer this question further, look at page 13, ‘Traditional Aboriginal management’ and ‘Tropical savanna management today’.

This earth … I never damage,I look after.Fire is nothing,just clean up.When you burn,new grass coming up.That mean good animal soon … Might be goose, long-neck turtle, goanna, possum.Burn him off … new grass coming up, new life allover.

Bill Neidjie, Stephen Davis and Allan Fox, Kakadu Man, Mybrood P/L, Sydney, 1985 page 35

© National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 2004

http://savanna.ntu.edu.au/centre/

Impacts of bushfire on the built environmentDestructive bushfires have a long history in Australia. The Museum display includes a list like this:

Year Place Approximate or estimated deaths and building destruction

1851 Victoria 12 people killed

1898 Victoria 12 people killed, 2,000 buildings destroyed

1926 Victoria 31 people killed

Jan 1939 Victoria, NSW 71 people killed, 1,300 buildings destroyed

Jan 1944 Victoria 51 people killed, 700 buildings destroyed

1957 NSW Blue Mountains

25 homes, shops, schools, churches and a hospital

Jan-–Feb 1962 Victoria 9 people killed,

600 homes destroyed

Jan-–Feb 1965 NSW, Victoria 11 people killed

Feb 1967 Tasmania 65 people killed, 1,400 buildings destroyed

Nov-–Dec 1968

NSW Blue Mountains

14 people killed, 150 buildings destroyed

Jan 1969 Victoria 23 people killed, 240 buildings destroyed

Feb 1977 Victoria, South Australia


Feb 1983 Victoria, South Australia

103 people killed, 2,819 buildings destroyed

1994 New South Wales


Jan 2003 Canberra 4 people killed, 500 buildings destroyed

Table based on display in National Museum of Australia and Peter Clack, Firestorm, Wiley, Brisbane, 2003 pages 15–18

National Museum of Australia, Bushfire timeline from 1851 till 2003Photograph George Serras

1 Brainstorm to create a list of the impacts on the built environment that such bushfires could be expected to have. For example, there would be destruction of telephone wires, water tanks, farm animals, etc. Add these to your list.

Impacts of bushfire on the people's livesThe list opposite shows many human deaths from bushfires. While this is the most serious of impacts, bushfires can have many other impacts on people as well. Read the following evidence, and answer the questions that follow.

Murray Nicoll (RADIO ARCHIVE, Adelaide ‘Ash Wednesday’ bushfires, 1983)

We are crouching down behind — behind a farmhouse. There are children. (Gasps) The sky is red and then white. It’s going crazy. The fire’s jumped 100 feet high, 150 feet high, straight over the top of Green Hill Road. There are a dozen people here with me. We can hardly breathe. The air is white with heat. There’s smoke and it’s red and there are women crying and there are children here and we are in trouble …At the moment, I’m watching my house burn down. I’m sitting out on the road in front of my own house where I’ve lived for 13 or 14 years and it’s going down in front of me. And the flames are in the roof and — Oh, God damn it. It’s just beyond belief — my own house. And everything around it is black. There are fires burning all around me. All around me. And the front section of my house is blazing. The roof has fallen in. My water tanks are useless. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_in_time/Transcripts/s678221.htm

Both A and B above refer to large bushfires in the past. The most recent major fire was in January 2003. While that disaster affected Canberra people, their recollections help us to understand the impact that fire has on all Australians who experience it.

I’ve lived through two fires. I remember the first one, over 30 years ago, left much bitterness in the community when firefighters had to decide which houses to sacrifice, and which to save. Those decisions have divided that community to this day. And communities have not forgotten. There is still memory, fear and loss of precious items.

Canberra resident, interview 2004

A

This wasn’t just our disaster. This was a disaster that stretched across two states, and within 100 metres of my place five people died. We just lost a house. They lost their lives. Thousands of families were affected that day. That was a bad day for a lot of people.

Murray Nicoll remembering the 1983 ‘Ash Wednesday’ bushfires in Adelaide, www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_in_time/Transcripts/s678221.htm

B


1 What different types of impacts of bushfires are included here? For example, there is loss of possessions, but also a loss of amenity. 2 Are there any good aspects that result from a bushfire?

A pair of Delft ceramic clogs sat there smugly, apparently unharmed by their recent return to the kiln-like heat. Pete’s Dutch parents had recently returned from Holland and had taken great delight in presenting us with those clogs.The ceramic jug was a modest piece with a history that escapes me but is clearly a little hero now. All sorts of molten material seem to have adhered to its body while the handle, weakened by its ordeal, lay at rest.The silver and turquoise dress ring was found amongst the molten remains of my once extensive brooch collection. I was never known not to wear a brooch. The ring was the first I had ever bought as a teenager — how I loved that ring.

Sue Boekel National Museum of Australia

C


Photograph George Serras

Boekel Family Belongings (Canberra bushfires) – On loan from the Sue and Peter Boekel. All the possessions left: Two Delftware Clogs, Ceramic Jug and Silver and Turquoise Ring

We … thought we’d try to get back [home] to see whether anything could be saved. We had hundreds of books, collected over thirty years, many of them expensive and very rare medical volumes that can’t be replaced. All our medical equipment and patient records were there too. Chinese paintings, photos, voice recordings we’d made when the children were little, our sons’ violin and piano. Everything.

Yang Xue and Xue Song Liu, in Stephen Matthews, ‘How did the fire know we lived here?’, Ginninderra Press, Canberra, 2003, pages 74–75

D

We have all read of some appalling events, such as stealing from burnt homes, lighting fires and so on, but I want you to know that there are some wonderful young people in Canberra … All appeared lost [at our home] when, out of the smoke and grit, four young men arrived with buckets and, by constant bucketing water from the swimming pool, the house was saved. Nobody knew who they were — no names or from where they came — but these bucket angels worked so hard and disappeared, no doubt to help someone else.

Joan Hanks in Stephen Matthews, ‘How did the fire know we lived here?’, Ginninderra Press, Canberra, 2003, page 125

E

Some neighbours told us stories of how they’d been there all night battling spot fires. We felt guilty for not having stayed. But they all shook their heads at us and said, ‘Everybody understands why you went. You’ve got kids.’

Karan Gabriel in Stephen Matthews, ‘How did the fire know we lived here?’, Ginninderra Press, Canberra, 2003, page 154

F

Thanks to all the volunteers, fire-fighters, police and officials who did their best in an impossible situation. Thanks to the ACT government and its officials for the prompt response to people in need. Thanks to the people who manned the recovery centres for long hours in sweltering temperatures. Thanks to all my close friends who have supported my family and me since our loss. Thanks to all the people — those that I barely knew, and the perfect strangers who I knew not at all — who stepped up to give me a hug and a word of encouragement. Thanks to the shopkeepers, the bank officials and the people in government offices who have bent over backwards to help. If I had a tear in my eye at different times, it was not for my situation, but because I was deeply touched by the generosity and kindness of people everywhere … The one low note is the real estate woman who offered me a house to rent, which I accepted, and then offered it to other people at a higher rental.

Des Fooks in Stephen Matthews, ‘How did the fire know we lived here?’, Ginninderra Press, Canberra, 2003, pages 159–160

G

Our cattle survived but were sold the next day, as we have no fences, feed or water. The farm is ruined. It will take years to restore our sheds, cars, hay, machinery and infrastructure.

Dorothy Topfer in Stephen Matthews, ‘How did the fire know we lived here?’, Ginninderra Press, Canberra, 2003, page 172

H Brindabella and Namadgi National Parks are now little more than eerily silent graveyards for the flora and fauna that once inhabited them. I drive through them a few times each week and grieve for what was lost through what I believe was a needlessly hot and long fire.

David Menzel in Stephen Matthews, ‘How did the fire know we lived here?’, Ginninderra Press, Canberra, 2003, page 177

I

3 Add any information to the table.4 Talk to people in your community about their bushfire experience. Are they similar to the stories from the Canberra people above?

Bushfire management5investigation

National Museum of AustraliaFire Danger – Forest Bushfire Danger Sign, About 1999 from

Canberra. Donated by the ACT bushfire and Emergency Services


National Museum of AustraliaBushfire Control Road Sign – about 1999. Since 1983 ‘frilled not grilled’ has been used in the top end of the NT by the government. National Museum of Australia


Firefighter putting in a fire break in bushland near DarwinCourtesy Bushfires Council of the Northern Territory

National Museum of Australia text panel


Investigation 4 has shown clearly the destructive power of bushfires in Australia over time. This would seem to lead to a clear-cut conclusion: bushfires need to be controlled to protect people’s lives and property.But Investigation 3 has shown that bushfires are a natural and necessary element of the Australian environment, and are needed to maintain our ecosystems.How do we balance these two apparently competing elements? How do we manage bushfires in Australia?The key word here is ‘management’. Management is about control. But it is also about choices. So, do we manage bushfires for the benefit of people and property, in which case the environment will change; or do we manage it for the environment, which means that people have to change the way they live?Here are some ideas to help you consider that issue.

Traditional Aboriginal managementAboriginal people have been in Australia for perhaps 60,000 years. For all that time they have had to live with fire. We do not know exactly how fire has been used by Aboriginal people over time in different places. However, we do know that Indigenous people used it for thousands of years for warmth, hunting, communication, ceremonies, cooking, warfare, encouraging regrowth, and providing a fire-safe environment. Different patterns were used in different places, and probably at different times.Most historians describe Aboriginal use of fire as ‘firestick farming’ — the deliberate use of fire to control the nature of an environment. This appears to have been to create a patchwork of different stages of regrowth in different areas.1 What would be the advantages of having different stages of growth in different areas?2 What knowledge or expertise would be required for this to be achieved?When Europeans invaded Australia they disrupted these traditional burning practices. Except in areas where Europeans cleared the land for crops and animal grazing, this led to the creation of a denser bush, a different environment. 3 Why would Europeans have wanted different fire regimes to those of the Aboriginal people?4 What impact would the creation of denser bush have had on bushfires?

Tropical savanna management todayTraditional Aboriginal management techniques are still used in parts of northern Australia today. When undertaken under Indigenous custodianship, burning today is concentrated in non-pastoral, relatively high-rainfall regions. Traditionally, fires are set in the early to mid-dry season, so that frequent low-impact burning keeps fuel loads low — the ‘clean up burning’ that Bill Neidje refers to in his earlier statement.Where traditional burning in the north has been disrupted by European settlement the situation is different. Where burning was largely controlled in the past, today it is caused by lightning strikes. There is a trend towards more frequent and larger, hotter fires. The increase of monsoon rains creates more vegetation, which in turn fuels larger fires. This is seemingly tied to climate change: four of the 10 highest annual rainfalls for the region have been recorded in the last 10 years. As much as half the area is currently burnt every year, or two years.These newer fire patterns differ from traditional Aboriginal burning, where small patches were burned as people moved through the country, creating smaller and less intense fires. This tended to create a mosaic or patchwork, rather than a single environment. Studies in the area concluded that too frequent burning had the worst impact on the ecosystem. For optimum maintenance of current biodiversity and ecosystems the need was for burning every three to five years.A problem is that there are now several different sets of demands on the environment: the demand of some Aboriginal people to maintain their traditional practices; the demands of many conservationists to reduce the impact of ‘artificial’ management processes; the demands of pastoralists for the maintenance of an environment that suits their grazing animals, rather than the natural environment; and the demands of tourists for a smoke-free, unburned, ‘undestroyed’ environment.This issue of competing management demands also affects areas where the bush meets the city or farms in southern Australia.


FARMERS TO SUE GOVERNMENT FOR FIRE ESCAPES FROM NATIONAL PARKS

Management of bushfires at the urban-rural-bush interfaceOne big issue in management is the question of fuel reduction burning — controlled periodic fires to reduce litter so that later natural fires will be less intense and extensive.The newspaper headline below shows one of the reasons why that issue is important — many fires start in national park areas, and escape to neighbouring farms.

If the nature of the fires can be controlled within the national park, the chances of it escaping can be reduced.

Imagine that a meeting has been called in a town in a fire-prone area. Over 10,000 people live in the town and surrounding countryside. The town is surrounded by a national park, containing small populations of several rare animal and plant species in the area, and a state forest, where there is logging and a sawmill. These areas border farms and vineyards. The local area has its own water supply from the local catchment area, and has various aquatic recreation facilities. The area is also popular with tourists, particularly in summer and spring, who enjoy forest walks, local vineyards and the general beauty and tranquillity of the place. Five years ago the area was threatened by a major bushfire, and conditions are building for a high fire probability this coming summer.A proposal has been put that there needs to be several controlled hazard burns. Hazard reduction burning involves periodic low-scale and low-intensity fires to ‘clean up’ vegetation. The aim is to limit the amount of vegetation in the bush if a fire does break out, and therefore lessen the intensity of that fire.

1 Allocate the characters to different class members, and prepare a short statement by each to put at the meeting, best explaining their view.2 Select appropriate ideas from the following list to create each statement.Included in your statement must be a management plan or strategy that suits your view. Use these to help create the arguments from the different characters.Some aspects of a fire hazard reduction burn:• It creates pollution — smoke and ash.• It keeps an area relatively clear for the entry of emergency vehicles.• It can affect sensitive soil.• It is a traditional management method used in Australia by

Aboriginal people over thousands of years.• It is costly, labour-intensive.• Burning creates nutrients in the soil.• Different areas need to be studied to discover the best regime for

that area.• Burning increases plant germination in fire-dependent species

such as eucalypts.• It requires access tracks that can harm wilderness values.• Not all plants are fire-tolerant, so burning will change the natural

balance in an area.• People must learn to live with fire, it is a natural element.• Research suggests that major fires in extreme conditions will

rage despite any previous hazard reduction burning.• Large scale burning is not sustainable. Too frequent fires can

change plant ecology.• Burning creates smoke that can harm some people’s health.• Fires disfigure the landscape.• Controlled burns can only be held a few days a year.• Research has found that doubling the fuel load in an area will

double the rate of spread and quadruple the fire intensity in an uncontrolled burn.

• Most fires are started either by lightning or deliberately by people.• Each area is different and has specific requirements that must be

understood.

3 After all characters have presented their ideas, vote on what you think is the best management plan (but you cannot vote for your own one!). Then see if the class as a whole can come up with a better plan that suits all people’s needs.Bushfire management and citizenshipWhile bushfire control is about management, values and choice, it is also about ‘citizenship’ — being responsible for every action you take that has an impact on others in your community.Bushfire management involves governments and individuals. What are ‘good citizenship’ actions that can be taken by governments and individuals in relation to bushfire management?

LAKE

VINEYARD

FARMS

NATIONALPARK

STATE FOREST

SAWMILLS

TOWN

Here are eight different people at that meeting, and their major concerns:

Person Main management position

Park ranger Wants to conserve the environment

Government official Burns are costly and difficult

Logger Needs access to good timber for logging

Wilderness Club member Nature must be allowed to find its own way

Tourist operator People want to enjoy the area

Town resident Wants safety and clean air

Farmer Wants safety from fire escapes from the national park and state forest

Bushwalker Wants access to all areas

Volunteer fire-fighter Wants to be able to get to fires quickly and safely to fight them

Ecologist Wants both fire-dependent and fire-vulnerable plants to be able to survive


>> Continued on back cover

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