Dear Roger,

An interesting article, Thank You.
I shall certainly try to get hold of the books
you mention and am grateful for your recommendation.

The following link may be of interest to you and others:

http://theconversation.com/how-aboriginal-burning-changed-australias-climate-4454

Hasbeen,

In Australian bush and outback, animals have to go to water, that is where aboriginals would wait and camp nearby, those places form sacred sites we know of today.

To my knowledge aboriginals did not eat grass, they ate seed from some grasses. Seeds take a long time to grow, what to eat meantime?

“Opened cover and made game more visible” you say Hasbeen, made the hunter visible too eh.

I agree about properties of today turning into useless thickets but I think that is because an imbalance was caused by initial overstocking. Grass seed did not replenish due too many livestock eating too much grass, not eating hop bush for example.

There used to be so much grass seed it kept millions of migratory pidgeon’s alive across Australia, but not anymore.

There are lots of stories about aboriginals burning the bush and there are a lot of fire fighters who like to burn back. Pyromaniacs too.

The book at the link posted by Foxy, says, “For thousands of years, Aboriginal Australians burned forests to promote grasslands for hunting and other purposes. Recent research suggests that these burning practices also affected the timing and intensity of the Australian summer monsoon.”

For hunting and ‘other purposes’? What other purposes?
And affecting monsoons? How many locals existed at the time to do that?
And climate change in there too. A climate change sermon.

And again Hasbeen, algae plant matter is not even being seen by those writing such ‘history’ about Aboriginals impacting monsoons and climate.

Hasbeen, look at a pastoral map, you will see the best watering places like springs are where the locals of the day used to hang out and hunt.
Same applies today for stockmen and campers.
Nobody would burn their own place because the animals would go away and not come by to drink.

Drought did the drying, still does, lightening did burning, still does.

Seasons and drought force the nomadic way of life as still happening in deserts worldwide.

The above understanding is coming from an Australian outback ex jackaroo, ex overseer and ex station manager.

JF you sound like an academic, & that is no compliment.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/10/30/3879452.htm
The researchers were particularly interested to see if changes in genetic diversity correlated with three critical moments in history.

The first moment was around 45,000 years ago when humans first arrived in Australia. The second was around 18,000 years ago at the height of the Last Glacial Maximum, when large parts of the country existed under extremely dry, cold, windy conditions, particularly in outback Australia. The third milestone was about 10,000 years when the glacial period ended and warmer, wetter conditions returned.

The genetic analysis showed that in the tropical regions along the northern edge of Australia, there were no population bottlenecks, the researchers report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

By contrast, in central Australia, where the ice age conditions were particularly severe, the researchers saw genetic diversity reduced as populations of the trees were driven into small "refugia" or regions where they were protected from fire and adverse conditions.

Meanwhile, in the more southerly temperate regions, tree populations were stable, and expanded their range at the end of the ice age as the climate became more amenable.

"We really saw a recapitulation of the climatic history of Australia, and the Aboriginal burning story just didn't feature," says Bowman. "We just can't see evidence for the story of ecological collapse due to the advent of Aboriginal burning."
New and powerful

Professor Chris Johnson, an ecologist from the University of Tasmania who was not involved in the study, says the new results are significant.

"It helps overturn what was, for a long time, a well accepted idea about the environmental history of Australia. It does this in a new and powerful way," he says.

By examining the history of this fire-sensitive group of plants across Australia, the paper clearly shows that "fluctuations in populations of these plants across the continent since the arrival of people were driven primarily by climate, not fire," Johnson says.

post/limits..[continues]

"I think..we have got closer..to resolving..a long-running debate in Australian environmental history,"..he says..."Did Aboriginal use of fire cause a major restructuring of vegetation across the continent?

It seems not."

For Bowman,.the results suggest that the Aboriginal people may have arrived in Australia already..in possession of sophisticated techniques for using fire in the landscape.

"The idea of ecological collapse..resulting from people arriving and burning Australia to a crisp..isn't supported..by our data," he says.

"The effect of Aboriginal/landscape burning..is a lot more subtle.

It's still important,..
but it's subtle and..it's region-specific."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire-stick_farming

In the resultant sclerophyll forests. fire-stick farming maintained an open canopy..and allowed germination./.of understory plants necessary*..for increasing the carrying capacity.of the local environment for browsing ..and grazing marsupials.

It may be argued[who]..that/there/have been a ritual taboo against burning certain areas of Jungle.[2]

This type of farming..also directly increased the food/supply for the aborigines,..by promoting the growth of bush potatoes and other edible ground-level plants.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indigenous_Australians

Aboriginal Australians were limited to the range of foods occurring naturally in their area,..but they knew exactly when, where and how to find everything edible.

Anthropologists and nutrition experts who studied the tribal diet in Arnhem Land found it to be well-balanced, with most of the nutrients modern dietitians recommend...But food was not obtained without effort.

In some areas both men and women had to spend from half
to two-thirds..*of each day..hunting or foraging for food.

Each day the women of the horde went/into successive parts of one countryside,/with wooden digging sticks and plaited dilly bags or wooden coolamons. They dug yams and edible roots and collected fruits, berries, seeds, vegetables and insects.

They killed lizards, bandicoots..and other small creatures with digging sticks...The men went hunting...Small game such as birds, possums, lizards and snakes were often taken by hand.

Larger animals and birds such as kangaroos and emus were speared or disabled with a thrown club, boomerang, or stone.. Many indigenous devices were used..to get within striking distance of prey.

NOTE FISH-TRAPS..[bird/traps..etc ignored
http://www.google.com.au/images?q=australian+aboriginal+fiish-traps&oe=utf-8&

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/plant_info/aboriginal_bush_foods
http://www.survival.org.au/bushfood_weeds.php

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=28529

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s3833830.htm

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=australian+aboriginal+fire+dance

one under god,

You have done well presenting all that material.
Compulsory reading for Hasbeen.