Researchers working with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation examined vegetation and fire history at Purghagoolah, a lake in Croajingolong National Park in Gippsland, Victoria. The team analyzed pollen and charcoal particles from a sediment core spanning 1,000 years to reconstruct how the landscape and fire patterns have changed over time.
The findings, published in Nature, indicated that the transition from open woodland to dense forest following European colonisation resulted in fires of greater intensity. This shift coincided with the cessation of cultural burning practices and the removal of the Gunaikurnai people from their traditional lands. Michael-Shawn Fletcher, lead author and professor at the University of Melbourne, noted that prior to colonisation the landscape was actively managed and maintained.
Fletcherexplained that the removal of Indigenous people from the region led to increased tree and shrub density, which in turn drove hotter fires. These intense fires then triggered eucalypt regeneration, creating a cycle where increased eucalypt cover fuelled further fire activity. According to Fletcher, this pattern of land use change preceded climate-driven changes by more than a century.
Cultural burning, practiced by First Nations peoples, uses low-temperature fire to maintain productive and safe landscapes through a responsive “right time, right place” methodology that differs from government-managed prescribed burning for hazard reduction. Fletcher indicated the research provides scientific support for incorporating Indigenous knowledge into contemporary fire management approaches.
Prof David Bowman from the University of Tasmania, commenting on the study, characterised it as significant and part of a growing recognition of how Indigenous fire management loss has shaped landscape change. He noted that while other factors including introduced species have contributed to ecological shifts, the removal of traditional fire management represents a substantial alteration to fire regimes.
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