The Kakadu region has gone through immense transformation throughout history. How can archaeological food scraps tell us about how the First Australians adapted?
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Indigenous fire
Displaying all articles
Indigenous fire management holds the key to a safer, more sustainable future on our flammable continent.
In this era of mega-fires, diverse strategies are urgently needed so we can safely live with fire.
The paradise parrot was rediscovered by Cyril Jerrard, a Queensland grazier, in December 1921. But its return was fleeting.
Fires in arid Australia are extensive, largely unmanaged, often destructive and significantly under-reported.
Large and out-of-control wildfires can seriously damage ecosystems, but Indigenous fire practices can keep ecosystems healthy and resilient, and even increase biodiversity.
More than 40 fire scientists and forest ecologists in the US and Canada teamed up to investigate why wildfires are getting more extreme. Climate change is part of the problem, but there’s more.
A new book by an eminent anthropologist and archaeologist mounts a rigorous critique of Dark Emu, repudiating notions of ‘primitive’ hunter-gatherers.
Australia can take great strides forward in climate policy and action. A reactionary, incremental approach to adaptation will fall short. Now is the time to think big.
By collaborating with Indigenous ranger groups, we can make strategic fire and land management practices economically sustainable for traditional landowners.
The unprecedented intensity of two summers of bushfires, first in the east and then in the west, offered harsh lessons for Australians. One is that some settlements must retreat from high-risk areas.
Two starkly different research projects at East Gippsland’s Cloggs Cave, 50 years apart, show the importance of Indigenous perspectives in archaeology.
Pristine and beautiful or black and dirty? As bushfires become more frequent and we look to Indigenous fire control practices, it is time to reconsider our attitudes to burnt earth.
California’s bushfire disaster is eerily reminiscent of Australia’s Black Summer. We share the same fiery fate, and must learn to adapt.
The bushfire royal commission will look at incorporating Aboriginal knowledge into mainstream fire management. But in practice, what does that mean?
There is a real risk a national inquiry could get bogged down in politics, or not lead to real change. But we need more federal action on bushfires. Our old approaches are broken.
Top contributors
-
Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania
-
Emeritus professor, University of Wollongong
-
Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University
-
Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Wollongong
-
Director Sydney Environment Institute and Professor of Environmental Politics, University of Sydney
-
Professor of Urban & Regional Planning; Chair of the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Network (CCARRN), University of Canberra
-
Emeritus Professor, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University
-
Pro Vice Chancellor, Aboriginal Leadership, University of Tasmania
-
Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National University
-
Claire Smith is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University
-
Associate Professor in Biogeography, The University of Melbourne
-
ARC Laureate Fellow, Monash University, Director of Global Encounters Program., Monash University
-
Research Fellow in Environmental Science, University of Tasmania
-
Professor, School of Humanities and Communication Arts & Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
-
Research Associate in Archaeology, Flinders University
