Home Object Activities Contact Who's who How to join NSF How to support NSF What's on Nature and Society Australian bushfires Paul Collins and Nic Gellie proved an interesting duo talking about bushfires at our April meeting. Paul Collins had many stories to tell from the historical research he did for his new book, Burn. His experience is not only historical, however, as he had bought a block of land in the Snowy Mountains in 2002, only to have it burnt out in 2003. He was pleased to report that the bush has regenerated, and it is prime quoll habitat. Paul compared the 2003 fires with the Black Friday fire in 1939, in Victoria. That notorious fire destroyed a township and killed over seventy people, but was over in just a few days, whereas the 2003 fires lasted for months. Reading the Streeton Royal Commission into Black Friday, Paul was impressed at how prosaic all the accounts were. There was no hype or hysteria like the recriminations we have experienced. Mrs Robinson, one of Paul’s favourite witnesses, just commented that things had ‘looked bad all round’, although she lost several children to the fires. Although aborigines had certainly lit fires we have no way of knowing how much or how often. European settlement certainly brought an extraordinary increase in both the frequency and intensity of fire in south-eastern Australia. People lit fires everywhere, at any time, to burn off or to clear land. Rural manhood was forged in fighting fires. The Streeton Royal Commission introduced the idea of studying the dynamics of fire. Then, after World War II, volunteer fire brigades were formed to protect communities. The idea of fighting fire with fire began at that time. In the 1980s environmental groups started to object to the frequency of controlled burning, and now there are strong differences of opinion about controlled burning, and the practice of back burning to contain fires. Nic Gellie started working as a fire ecologist in Tasmania, and has since worked in several places on the mainland. In the dense forest areas of Tasmania he thinks the aborigines had to burn, to maintain access to various parts of their land. Nic’s research here in Canberra is investigating the temporal, rather than the spatial, potential for severe fire occurrences. He pointed out that fire is episodic, rather like rainfall in Australia. Fire occurs infrequently, and we take notice of it when it is severe. Somehow we have become worse at fighting fires. Rather than putting them out early, we let them build up, so they burn for much longer. We have not learnt from our own history. My apologies for the delay in publishing this report. At least now we can add Nic’s own summary of his work. Report by Jenny Wanless August - September 2007 edition accessible here Back to top ________________________________________________________________
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