Very topical after the devastating bushfires that ravaged Australia over the summer, Victor Steffensen, Australia’s most prominent fire management expert, put this fantastic work together. The book focuses on Indigenous land management practices and is a powerful account of First Nation people’s connection to country. Victor provides us with his own history of growing up on country and learning from his elders. It is here that his journey with fire began and by reading we delve deep into the science of the land, and how by using fire we can restore the land to a healthier state, so that in years to come, fires like those of last summer don’t happen again.
What’s important is the difference between Aboriginal fire management and hazard reduction. What’s also critical is that Aboriginal fire knowledge is based on country that does need fire, but also country that doesn’t. Victor elucidates these points splendidly.
This is a book as crucial and important as Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu and while not all this information may not align with Western views, it is evident that much of this information wold greatly benefit Australia, its inhabitants, and its flora and fauna.
- Nik