Climate

A millennium of evidence reveals colonial roots of Australia’s wildfire vulnerability

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Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 26/10/2026, 08:39:24 UTC.

Briefings

A 2026 Nature study reconstructs Australia's wildfire history over 1,000 years, concluding that colonial disruption of Indigenous fire management, not climate change, created the modern vulnerability. Indigenous stewardship maintained 10% tree cover and prevented crown fires until the 1840s, when forced separation led to woody fuels quadrupling and charcoal abundance tripling. This evidence suggests the region became highly flammable long before modern climate warming intensified the crisis.

Key points

• Indigenous Gunaikurnai people maintained 10% tree cover in southeastern Australia for over 800 years prior to 1788, preventing high-temperature crown fires.
• After colonization in the 1840s, woody fuels quadrupled to 34% and charcoal abundance tripled, creating dense forests prone to severe fires.

Context

This research, published in Nature, challenges the view that climate change is the primary driver of Australia's wildfire crisis by identifying colonial disruption as the root cause of long-term fuel buildup.

Limitations

Evidence relies on sediment cores from Purghagoolah (Lake Elusive) in East Gippsland; findings are observational and do not account for future climate projections or other regional factors.

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