‘Catastrophic wildfire cycle’ created after colonisation left parts of Australia more at risk from bushfires, study finds

The drastic land use changes wreaked by colonisation created a “catastrophic wildfire cycle” that rendered south-east Australia more susceptible to climate-fuelled bushfires, experts say.

A team of researchers, working with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, an organisation that represents traditional owners, reconstructed 1,000 years of vegetation and fire history at Purghagoolah, a lake surrounded by forest in Croajingolong national park in Gippsland, Victoria.