Fire stick farming was one of the most common practices of the indigenous Australians. The aboriginals would make use of fire to burn the vegetation and consequently facilitate hunting[1]. In Australia, at present fire stick farming happens to be one of the most contentious and complex issues due to the severe ecological consequences it brings along. For instance, fire stick farming over a prolonged period of time converted the dry forests of Australia into savannah, thus increasing the number of species like kangaroo in the area[2]. Fire stick farming has been said to result in ecological disturbances and is also considered to be responsible of the extinction of the Australian megafuna. Fire was traditionally a tool used by the aboriginals for a number of purposes included signaling and driving away carnivorous animals[3]. However, in due course of time, it affected the evolution of Australian biota, and altered the surrounding environment[4].
One of the main reasons why the aboriginal people preferred fire stick burning was because it provided them with habitable land and allowed them to cover long distances in search of food. In the west coast of Tasmania, the vegetation was reduced from eucalyptus and rainforests to mere scrubs which eventually gave way to sedgelands. The burning away of vegetation resulted in deforestation and erosion of the planet’s precious resources. The regular burning or fire stick farming by the aboriginals had long term impacts on the species composition and the habitats of the regional ecosystems. Open woodlands, grasslands and the heaths, which were largely occupied by the colonial explorers, had been created by the aboriginal practices. In other words, the aboriginals were responsible for maintaining the open grasslands and areas where colonizers set foot[5].
As a matter of fact, it is believed that fire stick farming practices by the aboriginals altered the climate of Australia as well. For instance, it is assumed that the intensity and timing of the summer monsoon in Australia was a direct result of these burning rituals. Some might claim that a single species, in this case the aboriginals, would not be able to influence the climate of an entire region. However, it cannot be denied that practices of human beings have resulted in environmental degradation, land degradation, alteration of the earth’s atmosphere and pollution of water bodies and air. According to some theorists, the clearing of vegetation and burning of land may have caused a reversal in the atmospheric cycle involving carbon dioxide and methane. It may have also caused the draught like conditions in semi arid regions of the country. It is common sense that vegetation plays a crucial role in determining the intensity and duration of monsoon in an area[6]. Due to prolonged burning of vegetation, the level of rainfall decreased and ground temperatures were altered. It also had a negative impact on the atmospheric stability of the region. In short, the fire stick farming practices of Australian aboriginals permanently altered the local climatic conditions of the regions. The aboriginals successfully extended the dreaded dry seasons in Australia and also delayed the onset of monsoon season in concerned areas.
Additionally, the fire stick farming practices differed over the regions, mainly in terms of the technique and the frequency of the burning. Since a majority of the ecological systems were altered permanently by the aboriginal practices, the ecosystems of Australia are dependent on these practices even today. It must be remembered that hazard reduction burning systems, like fire stick farming, has immense potential to modify ecosystems and cause irreversible damage to them. For example, in some areas of Australia, the composition of species in an area has been altered, making them more vulnerable to wildfires and similar threats. As a result, the dense forests of Australia could potentially be reduced to nothing but weed infested grasslands. It must be understood that control burning is not harmful to the environment. In some cases, controlled burning would be encouraged to ensure proper maintenance of land. However, the problem arises when the time interval between two burning phases, the scale of burning, the intensity of the fire or the time of the year when the practice is implemented are not regulated. Thus, it can be affirmed that fire stick burning practices have indeed had an impact on the ecological systems of Australia.
However, it must also be asserted that the aboriginal practices of fire stick farming have some significance in the contemporary land and environment management practices of today[7]. For more than 50,000 years, the indigenous or aboriginal communities of Australia cared for and looked after the land management[8]. By utilizing storing and sowing plants, fishing traps and traditional burning practices, they were able to come up with sustainable systems which took into consideration the ecological systems of the surrounding areas. The aboriginal people lived close to nature, and knew the requirements of the land. While their measures may have had long term impacts on the environment, there practices were sustainable. It was the settlement of the colonizers and their damaging ways which led to degradation and erosion of the land[9]. Realization of this fact has led to a growing consciousness regarding the need for improved land management practices. As a matter of fact, the local governing bodies in many Australian states are gradually turning to these fire stick farming tactics to reverse the damage caused by harmful and inappropriate farming methods of European farmers.
Contemporary researchers are of the opinion that the indigenous people had a solid, innate knowledge of the land and what it needed, unlike the colonizers. Thus, their burning practices were sustainable and not too harmful. As a matter of fact, it was deduced that such controlled burning would reduce the chances or threats of bushfires[10]. On the other hand, when the Europeans began farming, fire was no longer used as an instrument. This increased the concentration of bush land and thick scrubs, increasing risks of bush fires. In fact, some experts have commented that aboriginal fire stick farming could easily be used to solve a number of contemporary land management issues. Using fire to deal with land management would have three impacts. One, it would encourage the native grasslands to regenerate, thus producing new feed. Two, it would reduce fuel and scrub which would eventually lead to damaging bush fires. Three, it would help in promotion of biodiversity. As such, these practices, in controlled environments, would prove to be extremely beneficial in public reserves, natural parks and public land. New studies show that the practices adopted by aboriginals had negligible effect on soil erosion processes in different parts of Australia. It has also been found that these fire stick farming techniques were not used as intensely as it was previously assumed. In fact, these practices did not really contribute to the erosion rates of Australian land. The soil erosion that took place was a natural process.
Burning practices and burning farming tactics of the aboriginals is now considered to be one of the most potent forms of land and resource management in Australia. It can be termed as a constructive force which would shape plant communities[11]. It would also enhance biodiversity by disturbing the existing biological system. It would reduce the reproductive rates of some species and encourage more diversity within the ecological systems. It is estimated that such controlled burning would favorably alter the plan communities prevalent in the area. A large number of plant species would be incompatible with the evolving land conditions. Fire stick farming would help in elimination of such species. Moreover, since these practices have been around for ages, the vegetation and the flora and fauna communities of the area have adapted themselves to such conditions[12]. They are thus able to survive under controlled burning situations. Fire stick burning as a practice is also considered to be cost effective. It is believed to have tremendous potential for improving the quality of crops. It can prevent the infestation of damaging and invasive species of weed, which would be detrimental to the environment and agriculture. Infestation of weeds would decrease the agricultural output, reduce the value of the land and outcompete with the native species. Fire, as a tool of environmental management, can help in eradication of such weeds. There are very few records of fire stick farming regimes, which were mainly predominant land management methods before the Europeans settled in Australia. An understanding of the implications of fire management would enable one to use it for contemporary land and environment management. It would provide insight into optimum frequency and tactics of fire management, which can then be implemented.
To conclude, it can be said that fire stick farming is one of the oldest systems of land management in Australia. However, it is assumed that uncontrolled burning of vegetation and landscapes could lead to soil erosion, deforestation, air pollution and overall environmental degradation. Yet, local agriculturalists and contemporary researchers have recognized that such burning techniques, in controlled situations and carefully regulated frequencies, could help in contemporary management of land and environment in Australia.
Bird, Douglas W., Rebecca Bliege Bird, Brian F. Codding, and Nyalangka Taylor. “A landscape architecture of fire: cultural emergence and ecological pyrodiversity in Australia’s Western Desert.” Current Anthropology 57, no. S13 (2016): S65-S79.
Clark, Nigel, and Kathryn Yusoff. “Combustion and society: A fire-centred history of energy use.” Theory, Culture & Society31, no. 5 (2014): 203-226.
Codding, Brian F., Rebecca Bliege Bird, Peter G. Kauhanen, and Douglas W. Bird. “Conservation or co-evolution? Intermediate levels of aboriginal burning and hunting have positive effects on kangaroo populations in Western Australia.” Human Ecology 42, no. 5 (2014): 659-669.
Fache, Elodie, and Bernard Moizo. “Do burning practices contribute to caring for country? Contemporary uses of fire for conservation purposes in indigenous Australia.” Journal of Ethnobiology 35, no. 1 (2015): 163-182.
Glikson, Andrew. “Fire and human evolution: the deep-time blueprints of the Anthropocene.” Anthropocene 3 (2013): 89-92.
Hallam, Sylvia J. Fire and hearth: a study of Aboriginal usage and European usurpation in south-western Australia. Apollo Books, 2014.
Johnson, Christopher N. “Fire, people and ecosystem change in Pleistocene Australia.” Australian Journal of Botany 64, no. 8 (2017): 643-651.
Paterson, Alistair. “Enduring Contact: Australian Perspectives on Environmental and Social Change.” Occasion: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities 5 (2013): 1-17.
Russell-Smith, Jeremy, Garry D. Cook, Peter M. Cooke, Andrew C. Edwards, Mitchell Lendrum, C. P. Meyer, and Peter J. Whitehead. “Managing fire regimes in north Australian savannas: applying Aboriginal approaches to contemporary global problems.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment11, no. s1 (2013): e55-e63.
Scherjon, Fulco, Corrie Bakels, Katharine MacDonald, Wil Roebroeks, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Douglas W. Bird, David MJS Bowman et al. “Burning the land: an ethnographic study of off-site fire use by current and historically documented foragers and implications for the interpretation of past fire practices in the landscape.” Current Anthropology 56, no. 3 (2015): 314-315.
Williams, Alan N., Scott D. Mooney, Scott A. Sisson, and Jennifer Marlon. “Exploring the relationship between Aboriginal population indices and fire in Australia over the last 20,000 years.” Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology 432 (2015): 49-57.
Wilman, Elizabeth A. “An economic model of aboriginal fire?stick farming.” Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 59, no. 1 (2015): 39-60.
[1] Wilman, Elizabeth A. “An economic model of aboriginal fire?stick farming.” Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 59, no. 1 (2015): 39-60.
[2] Codding, Brian F., Rebecca Bliege Bird, Peter G. Kauhanen, and Douglas W. Bird. “Conservation or co-evolution? Intermediate levels of aboriginal burning and hunting have positive effects on kangaroo populations in Western Australia.” Human Ecology 42, no. 5 (2014): 659-669.
[3] Glikson, Andrew. “Fire and human evolution: the deep-time blueprints of the Anthropocene.” Anthropocene 3 (2013): 89-92.
[4] Paterson, Alistair. “Enduring Contact: Australian Perspectives on Environmental and Social Change.” Occasion: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities 5 (2013): 1-17.
[5] Williams, Alan N., Scott D. Mooney, Scott A. Sisson, and Jennifer Marlon. “Exploring the relationship between Aboriginal population indices and fire in Australia over the last 20,000 years.” Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology 432 (2015): 49-57.
[6] Clark, Nigel, and Kathryn Yusoff. “Combustion and society: A fire-centred history of energy use.” Theory, Culture & Society31, no. 5 (2014): 203-226.
[7] Russell-Smith, Jeremy, Garry D. Cook, Peter M. Cooke, Andrew C. Edwards, Mitchell Lendrum, C. P. Meyer, and Peter J. Whitehead. “Managing fire regimes in north Australian savannas: applying Aboriginal approaches to contemporary global problems.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment11, no. s1 (2013): e55-e63.
[8] Fache, Elodie, and Bernard Moizo. “Do burning practices contribute to caring for country? Contemporary uses of fire for conservation purposes in indigenous Australia.” Journal of Ethnobiology 35, no. 1 (2015): 163-182.
[9] Hallam, Sylvia J. Fire and hearth: a study of Aboriginal usage and European usurpation in south-western Australia. Apollo Books, 2014.
[10] Scherjon, Fulco, Corrie Bakels, Katharine MacDonald, Wil Roebroeks, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Douglas W. Bird, David MJS Bowman et al. “Burning the land: an ethnographic study of off-site fire use by current and historically documented foragers and implications for the interpretation of past fire practices in the landscape.” Current Anthropology 56, no. 3 (2015): 314-315.
[11] Bird, Douglas W., Rebecca Bliege Bird, Brian F. Codding, and Nyalangka Taylor. “A landscape architecture of fire: cultural emergence and ecological pyrodiversity in Australia’s Western Desert.” Current Anthropology 57, no. S13 (2016): S65-S79.
[12] Johnson, Christopher N. “Fire, people and ecosystem change in Pleistocene Australia.” Australian Journal of Botany 64, no. 8 (2017): 643-651.
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