Effects of Fire Stick Farming

Running head: EFFECTS OF FIRE STICK FARMING
Effects of fire stick farming
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1EFFECTS OF FIRE STICK FARMING
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
hunting1. 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 area2. 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 animals3. However, in due course of
time, it affected the evolution of Australian biota, and altered the surrounding
environment4.
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
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.

2EFFECTS OF FIRE STICK FARMING
practices. In other words, the aboriginals were responsible for maintaining the open grasslands
and areas where colonizers set foot5.
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 area6. 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
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.