Pre Colonial Forests & Fire – Part 1.

This is a hotly debated and controversial topic, and I don’t have the answers, only curiosity and questions. Please moderate any comments you may wish to contribute…

Unquestionably, Victoria’s forests have changed over the past two and a half centuries since European settlement. But what were they like, and how, and why, have they been changed forever?

Firstly, the extent of Victoria’s forests has reduced significantly.  A map produced by the Mines Department in 1869 indicates that prior to European settlement nearly 88% of Victoria had been forested, with the remaining 12% made up of open grasslands, coastal and alpine heathlands, lakes and mallee deserts. Alienation and sale of Crown Land, with associated clearing of native forests for mining, roads, railways, pastures, agriculture, cities, towns and settlements over the subsequent century reduced this figure to about 36% by 2013.

It’s well recorded that the first European explorers, surveyors, foresters and settlers marvelled at the large old trees in the thick forests in the mountains but were able to move freely and graze their stock on the foothills and open plains.

They also noted the frequent fires that had been lit by indigenous groups, or started by lightning, that were left smouldering, or raging, according to the nature of the fuel and weather conditions.

There is a serious risk of misinterpreting, over-generalising or extrapolating these references to Aboriginal use of fire. They may well have been ignited by lightning.

And what does “original” and “natural” condition of the pre 1788 forests really mean? Forests and woodlands were often in a state of flux well before European settlement. They were not necessarily idyllic and pristine and in some static balance.

However, despite the gaps in knowledge there are some intriguing, but conflicting clues of what the precolonial fire regime in Victoria might have been like. 

The fire regime for any particular forest-type and location is generally described in terms of the long-term cycles and patterns of fire intensity, fire frequency and season of the year when the burning occurs.

Explorers & Settlers.

Nearly every early navigator, explorer or settler mentions fire or makes comments in their diaries on the amount of bushfire smoke.

As early as 21 April 1770, Captain James Cook, sailing north of Cape Howe, near the current NSW/Victorian border, noted

In the afternoon we saw smoke in several places by which we knew the country to be inhabited.

Joseph Banks, who was on the same voyage with Cook, observed a few weeks later the fires burning from Smokey Cape to the Glasshouse near Coffs Harbour. Banks also noted in his journal while at Botany Bay:

very barren place without wood … very few tree species, but every place was covered with vast quantities of grass…the trees were not very large and stood separate from each other without the least underwood.

The new Governor of the NSW Colony in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip, wrote regularly to the British Home Secretary, Lord Sydney, where he stated.

and they (the Aborigines) are seldom seen without fire, or a piece of wood on fire, which they carry with them from place to place, and in their canoes.

George Bass, in January 1798, while opposite the Ninety Mile Beach in Gippsland observed many large smoke plumes behind the beach west of the Wingan Inlet.

Later, Angus McMillan, in January 1840, saw an immense number of fires near the Macalister River.  And on his visit to Gippsland in 1842, William Adams Brodribb recorded near the Thomson River:

The natives had burnt off the grass in Gippsland late in the summer. Heavy rains must have fallen before we reached there in March. The whole country was green; it had the appearance of a corn field.

It’s also well recorded that when the Europeans first arrived on the land, they found vast areas of thick forests in the mountains, contrasting with open grassy plains which largely appeared to be an artefact of the previous Indigenous and natural burning regime.

In 1840, explorer Count Paweł Strzelecki abandoned his horses after crossing the LaTrobe River and nearly perished trying to cross the almost impenetrable forests of southern ranges to reach Western Port.

But it’s worth noting that the early European occupiers were mostly graziers and were probably only interested in the land as a source of grass for their stock, or timber for their farms, so their accounts probably reflect this strong bias.

They commonly used terms, such as “good forest” for timbered areas with a good grassy ground cover and “poor forest” for areas with little grass which reflected their grazing values.

Tree size and their usefulness for timber was mentioned. “open forest” could mean widely-spaced trees such as woodland, but it could also mean free of regrowth or scrub. The size of the trees was rarely commented on except in the magnificent wet forests or the massive river red gums.

Nicolas Baudin.

Between 1801 and 1804, the voyage of the French explorer Nicolas Baudin charted much of the southern coastline of Australia including Western Port Bay and French Island.

He included the description of “La Terre Napoleon”, covering much of what is now Victoria and South Australia.

Onboard was artist Charles Alexandre Lesueur who drew exquisite sketches of the east coast of Tasmania in 1802 which show many small plumes of smoke from fires.

A. W. Howitt.

The notable explorer and bushman, Alfred William Howitt was a towering figure in eastern Victoria between 1860 and 1890.

He was fascinated by the culture and society of Indigenous Australians and wrote many detailed accounts including.

“These annual bushfires tended to keep the forests open, and to prevent the open country from being overgrown, for they not only consumed much of the standing or fallen timber, but in a great measure destroyed the seedlings which had sprung up since former conflagrations.”

“After some years of occupation, whole tracts of country became covered with forests of young saplings…and at present time these have so much increased, and grown so much, that it is difficult to ride over parts which one can see by the few scattered old giants were at one time open grassy country.”

The annual crop of grass which covered the country was more or less burnt off by the Aborigines, either accidently or intentionally, when travelling or for the purpose of hunting game. These annual fires tended to keep these forests open for they not only consumed much of the standing or fallen timber but in a good measure destroyed the seedlings which had sprung up since former conflagrations. The influence of these bushfires also served as a check on insect life; destroying amongst others the insects which prey on eucalypts.

In his 1890 paper on the “Eucalypts of Gippsland”, Howitt commented on the extent of forest regrowth after 1830. He also made references to scattered gigantic and dead alpine ash near Mt Wellington, large box trees in the upper Snowy River valley and a few very large yellow box found in the Wellington and Macalister river valleys. The same prolific regrowth was observed in South Gippsland.

But Howitt arrived after the Aborigines had probably ceased their traditional lifestyles so his views on the frequency of burning must have come from the accounts and conversations with early squatters or older Aborigines. 

It is also hard to know exactly how many indigenous people lived in Gippsland and how far they roamed when Howitt was writing his notes. One estimate suggests there were only about 126 people living on the Gippsland Plains by 1854.

A. W. Howitt.

Edward Curr.

Edward Curr, in his famous book “Recollections of Squatting in Victoria 1841─1851”, made several comments that support Howitt’s observations. He concluded that the state of the country when the white man arrived was largely due to the customs of its Aboriginal inhabitants and their use of the fire stick:

The aborigine was constantly setting fire to the grass and trees both accidently and systematically for hunting purposes. Living principally on wild roots and animals he tilled his land and cultivated his pastures with fire.

Curr concluded that almost every part of the country was swept over by a fierce fire on an average of every five years.