Overview
- A Nature paper published Thursday reconstructs 1,000 years from lake sediments at Purghagoolah and shows pre‑colonial open woodland maintained by Gunaikurnai care was transformed into denser eucalypt forest after 19th‑century colonisation.
- The team used pollen, charcoal counts and infrared analysis of charcoal to show a switch from frequent, cool cultural fires to fewer, hotter wildfires, alongside a fourfold rise in eucalypt cover and increased soil erosion.
- Authors describe a 'catastrophic wildfire loop' in which intense fires drive regrowth of flammable vegetation that then primes the landscape for ever more severe blazes, a legacy that predates major human‑driven climate warming.
- The paper, produced with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Corporation, recommends restoring cultural burning and strengthening support for Traditional Owners to lead land stewardship as a core wildfire‑mitigation strategy.
- Media responses ranged from careful scientific summaries to sensational headlines that oversimplified historical responsibility, and the study could prompt changes to fire policy, funding and on‑ground burning practices in southeastern Australia.