The role of fire

Aboriginal people have burned country for tens of thousands of years.

The ancestors gave them a cultural obligation to look after and clean up country, a duty handed down from generation to generation.Signs in nature told them of the time to burn, a time when minimal harm would be done to country but huge benefits would be gained.

Their ongoing traditional management of country is recognised in Kakadu's World Heritage listing. Balanda (non-Aboriginal people) are now starting to realise the value of this age-old Aboriginal knowledge.

In some areas where no burning took place, noticeable harm was done. Now that traditional burning is back, the landscape is once again abundant with native flora and fauna.

These days conservation managers across the top of Australia are using traditional patch burning in the cooler weather, to prevent wildfires, to repair country and to encourage biodiversity to recover.