How did Aboriginal use of fire shape landscapes in New South Wales?

For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal peoples in New South Wales and across Australia utilized fire as a sophisticated land management tool to shape their environment. By burning vegetation both deliberately and systematically, they influenced the composition and structure of the landscape.12

Key purposes and effects of these practices included:

• Resource Management: Fire was used to clear grasslands, which facilitated hunting and stimulated the growth of fresh green grass to attract game animals. It also encouraged the growth of plants that produced edible tubers.32
• Landscape Maintenance: Regular burning kept the country open and easily traversable.3
• Ecological Protection: Controlled, lower-intensity fires were sometimes employed early in the dry season to create firebreaks, protecting fire-sensitive areas—such as certain rainforest patches—from more destructive, high-intensity fires later in the season.3

These traditional practices profoundly influenced the distribution of native vegetation, with some plant communities changing in composition based on the frequency of fire. This long-term human interaction with the environment played a significant role in defining the character of the Australian landscape prior to European settlement.1