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

Researchers worked with traditional owners to reconstruct 1,000 years of vegetation and fire history in Croajingolong national park in Gippsland, Victoria. Pictured: bushfires in east Gippsland in January 2020. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

The drastic land use changes wreaked by colonisation created a “catastrophic wildfire loop” 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.