Country: Future Fire, Future Farming

by Bill Gammage, Bruce Pascoe, Margo Neale (Editor)

What do you need to know to prosper as a people for at least 65,000 years? The First Knowledges series provides a deeper understanding of the expertise and ingenuity of Indigenous Australians.

For millennia, Indigenous Australians harvested this continent in ways that can offer contemporary environmental and economic solutions.

Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe demonstrate how Aboriginal people cultivated the land through manipulation of water flows, vegetation and firestick practice. Not solely hunters and gatherers, the First Australians also farmed and stored food. They employed complex seasonal fire programs that protected Country and animals alike. In doing so, they avoided the killer fires that we fear today.

Country: Future Fire, Future Farming highlights the consequences of ignoring this deep history and living in unsustainable ways. It details the remarkable agricultural and land-care techniques of First Nations peoples and shows how such practices are needed now more than ever.

Genres: Nonfiction, Australia, History, Indigenous, Environment, Nature, Politics

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2021

Reviews

[Emer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book full of knowledge and passion. I won't complain about Gammage's long-winded and repetitive thoughts when they're sitting beside Pascoe's rich knowledge and care. For the information held and shared by Pascoe, "Country: Future Fire, Future Farming" is valuable. I'm glad I read it.

[Dooley Whitton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some eye opening topics and ideas around how to care for Country and how to create systems that allow for proper care.

Great book.

[May · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book about the Aboriginal practice of using fire to manage land ('Country') in Australia, and how colonisers created a culture of fear around fire, resulting in much of the dispossessed land becoming unmanaged, highly flammable dense scrub that has resulted in the huge bushfires occurring today. Before colonisers arrived in Australia in 1788, Aboriginal people would use different types of regular burning practices - namely cool fires - to create mosaic-like parcels of land. Managing the land in this way allows vegetation regenerate naturally, for the growing of specific types of crop, the protection of animal habitats, and prevents wildfires from spreading by reducing the fuel load of the land. However, it requires specialist knowledge of the land in question, as well as the climate, season, flora and fauna, wind speed etc. The book argues that only through large-scale reintroduction these practices and re-embedding them in the national culture can Australia begin to prevent uncontrollable bushfires. This can only be done through working closely with Aboriginal people who have lived on the land for far longer and more intimately than white Australians.

The most eye-opening part of the book for me was that these practices as part of the Aboriginal management of the land prior to 1788 resulted in an entirely different landscape in Australia than the one seen today; as emphasised by the colonisers' descriptions, it appeared to them as 'parkland' - large swathes of lush grassland interspersed with large trees, many of it used as pastureland, whilst also revering wild animal habitats and sacred sites. Paintings of the landscape at this time were mistakenly assumed to be the Western painters projecting their own nostalgic desires onto the local landscape. Now it turns out that these were accurate depictions of what the landscape used to look like.

Totems are very important in Aboriginal culture: 'Everything with shape (...) has a totem derived from a creator ancestor, otherwise it can't exist. An emu man must care for emus and emu habitat, and they must care for him, and so on.' (84). This was exemplified by the koala who showed an Aboriginal man the correct way to the people he was trying to find, by telling him not to continue in the direction he was going.

Bruce Pascoe cried when he found examples of bread that Aboriginal people made. It was testimony to the way in which for so long researchers have denied that Aboriginal people had sophisticated agrarian practices and knowledges, and perpetuated the view that 'farming' was introduced only when the colonisers arrived. However, farming in the Western sense is a dangerous pursuit, as put so by Bill Gammage: 'The most calamitous impact on Aboriginal society took shape millenia before any white man saw Australia. In the Northern Hemisphere people became farmers. Farmers think differently. Like their draught horses they wear the blinkers agriculture imposes. Farming means staying put, settling down, drawing lines on maps, building fences. Fences on the ground make fences in the mind.' (161)

I was interested in reading this as I am becoming more aware of the way in which Western farming, particularly the overuse of livestock, has severed connection with the natural flow of the land and is contributing to climate change in a huge way. Travelling around Aotearoa/New Zealand, the landscape is characterised by pastureland also created by burning practices, however done by colonisers in a far less sophisticated way and not with the view of honouring and protecting the land or the Maori culture. Instead, they wanted to recreate look and feel of the English countryside, to grow livestock and income but also, no doubt, to create a feeling of 'home', and therefore perceived safety, in a country that was not home. Country was a great introduction into the Aboriginal use of fire and the ways in which people can work with, and not against, that land that is home to many.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thrilled to pick up this new book at my local library. It is a strange little volume. Anything trying to generate a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples' land management is worth reading, but I'm just not sure what the purpose of this was. It does seem to cover well-known ground, by having essentially "highlights" or summaries from the two authors' previous very well-publicised works on these issues.

Any discussion of the future role of Indigenous practices must recognise that the population of Australia is much much greater than it was when only Aboriginal people managed the land. Just growing the grasses and orchids Indigenous peoples did for our grains and tubers and applying Indigenous fire management practices is not going to work. Australia is also obviously a huge country with great environmental diversity. Referring to a goal of 1o-12 large trees per hectare without reference to specific locations and environmental conditions does not make sense. And with our level of population and development today, our national parks do serve a different role in our communities and probably need to be managed differently from how Aboriginal people may have managed them. They are, in a sense, a refuge, and need more than 10-12 trees/ha.

I would like to have seen more discussion of the sheer numbers and practicalities of growing food and managing land differently. Pascoe's experiences at his Gippsland agricultural property were interesting, and perhaps just a book on that alone would have been more valuable and useful.

[Alec Boal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for hard assed capitalists and politicians alongside stoner hippies. This is a book for Australians to read.

[Emmy Henriksen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an easy 5 stars. I absolutely flew through it. With a background in conservation and ecosystem management, this book gave me so much knowledge that just wasn't taught in my course. There is so much we can be doing, should be doing, and this is a perfect example of how we can do it. A perfect NAIDOC week read, and I'm now motivated to get back into the conservation space. Highly highly recommend

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was excellent, compelling and powerful. An utterly eye-opening experience for me. Anyone who cares about the future of Australia - a Country that belonged to the Indigenous peoples for untold ages whichever way you want to look at it, and that was truly loved, understood, and respected in a way post-colonial society with its ravaging excesses could hardly dream of - this book is essential reading. I absolutely must read the other books in this wonderful and timely series in the future.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fabulous read. I read it aloud to both the boys as part of their geography/science curriculum and I'm so glad I did. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to truly understand why Australia has the devastating bush fires that it does.

[Nicola Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. 🙌

[Steven Kolber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important reading for our nation - fire and how we view it is starting to change, but the sooner the better, or we risk an ongoing cycle of loss of life.

[SS · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enlightening book about the use of fire by Aboriginal people and also the need for the Australian environment for fire.

[Neane · Rating 5 out of 5]

In all honesty I was surprised about the level of cultural knowledge that was shared in this book. It is a truth gift and an extension of camaraderie to protect our Country. It is not just activism we need in this space but action-ism. We have one chance at this.

[Emmaby Barton Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

continuing to love and gain so much from this series. again want to emphasise this should be essential reading for anyone living in so-called australia.

also a reminder of how much i still don’t know! i am gaining a foundational understanding, and it is being expanded the more i read/learn, but still a lot i don’t fully understand e.g., the first sentence of this book - Country being more than just land, can be thought of like the Dreaming (i think i had been confusing it with the notion of country with a lower case c, but instead need to think of Country more like nation-states?? so not just the land but with relationships, customs, cultures, languages etc?? but also extends beyond this in ways i still don’t fully understand)

this book can broadly be divided into several key themes so i’ll group my key take aways in the same way:

general advice about caring for/working with country
- notion of to improve is to make worst - need to keep everything in balance p83
- language matters: speaking of land ‘management’ or ‘care’ still implies a hierarchy, where humans are above land - ‘collaboration’ is a better term
- some talk of religion, especially in the intro/conclusion was a bit weird lol like was he appealing to ‘our’ Christianity?
- first peoples collaborated/worked with nature, whereas colonisers worked against it, saw it as something to be conquered/tamed (the bush by don watson, which i read recently, is a great read to emphasise this) - the suggestion that perhaps we viewed the land as our enemy as a way of “unconsciously deflecting guilt” of colonisation was interesting
- importance of all this work including first peoples and ensuring they benefit, their knowledge is respected etc. - our use of aboriginal knowledge/practices/foods etc cant just be tokenistic - it must be genuine, and extend beyond this knowledge to broader land and social justice - “you cant eat our food if you cant swallow our history”
- “leave the world as you found it - not better or worse, for God judges that, but the same… changes are cyclic: each must and will return to the balance” - and how sometimes that meant destroying/killing/suppressing

native food and plants
- there were less trees pre-colonisation!
- native plants are adapted to our country (e.g., dry and poor soil) - makes sense to use them!!
- we celebrate trees so much today but ignore how grasses were important for healthy country in 1788 and should be valued still today
- all the examples of native foods/plants and black duck foods/how the author/others are experimenting in this area was so interesting - want to look into this more and consider how i can incorporate into my own diet also
- rethinking what foods we eat and what plants we grow - again need to unpack unconscious biases eg. kangaroo, possums, birds seafoods, roadkill, honey, native grasses, yams etc. - and the ways in which this is all more environmentally friendly also!
- the bread example was particularly interesting - again highlighting the importance of language - was called ‘seed cakes’ rather than ‘bread’ - thus implying first peoples were less civilised etc. - also that aboriginal people may have been the first bakers! how cool! also the fact we have artefacts of this bread?? so cool seeing the pictures of food from so long ago?? history is so cool sometimes - “they were so beautiful, so important, that i cried. i was so proud of my peoples chemistry. the breads were risen and were fitted into the curve of the coolamon they had been placed in. i was in awe of the beauty of this domestic ritual, the genius of aboriginal life”

fire
- a lot of the specifics of the fire methods went over my head a bit (e.g., the effects on different plants) - but interesting seeing how many different types of fire methods were used and how much thought and knowledge they required!! and how fire was used in many ways - not just fire-stick farming - ensure predictability and abundance of plants/animals, to attract animals, promote new plant growth/food sources, clear tracks, clean camps of litter/pests, protect places, teach, signal that land is being cared for etc.
- fire treated like all other knowledge (always began with a ceremony, children taught, songs and stories etc to help learn knowledge): “fire was planned. guided by experts, ancestors, and neighbours, elders would discuss what, when, and how to burn. ‘what must be made absolutely clear is that the rules for fire and fire use are many and varied, and are dependent upon an intimate knowledge of the physical and spiritual nature of each portion of the land’. hard-won local expertise blended with knowing fire as a living part of the dreaming”
- importantly, while there are universal general rules - fire burning requires specialised and intimate local knowledge of country (which interacts with totem knowledge - didnt realise totems included things like fire so that was also cool to learn)
- so interesting learning all the different principles - and so frustrating being reminded how they were all ignored and this led to the recent black summer. i really hope our country starts listening to first peoples and starts implementing these practices
- in particular, gained a greater understanding of cool burning - a sort of prevention for worse fires later on, promotes fresh grass/attracts animals, these fires are less intense/hot (versus fires that happen later in the season) and thus ensure soil/nutrients aren’t damaged etc
- was interesting to find out that fuel reduction wasn’t needed pre-1788 and there wasn’t a word for this in first peoples’ languages! we only need it now because we have let fuel build up so much - but first peoples have accepted that “fuel has built up so much since 1788 that in many places cool fires are not possible, and traditional owners accept that fuel reduction will be necessary before a cool-fire regime can begin”

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that could change our way we live on our country and begin to treat it as Country if all folk living on this big brown land would read it.
There is so much knowledge shared within these pages by two very knowledgeable men. So many ideas that makes such sense, ways that could keep us all safe and would work to healing this landscape and the raves of modern ways of attempting to conquer nature.
Some not so gentle digs at our lack of quality and genuine intent within our political leadership is timely with an up coming federal election here and an opportunity for us all to think seriously about our future and the future of our upcoming generations

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bill Gammage chapters are very very good , and the Introduction by Margo Neale is wonderful. (Bruce Pascoe chapters not as good, it's great what Bruce is doing with Black Duck, Aboriginal employment and farming. I'd prefer his writing if he didn't push controversial issues such as dates of human occupation , Aboriginal culture is amazing as it is, no need for Bruce to over egg his points). Reading the Bill Gammage chapters saves you the effort of trudging through his earlier book "greatest estate". Gammages writing in Future Fire Future Farming is so much better than his writing in Greatest Estate, and has proportionately more references to contemporary Aboriginal sources

[Rhea Rufus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a gift and it truly was a gift to read. This book is impassioned and does a great job at reappraising our knowledge of Australia before it was invaded. The writers of this book do not just ask the question of how we can utilise Indigenous methods of land management in Australia; they ask if we have the capacity to put the re-imagined into practice (and it is very possible). Pascoe makes a tremendous effort demonstrating exactly how this is happening at his farm in Gippsland and Black Duck Foods.

Australia was an environmentally diverse country before it was invaded and only First Nations' land management practices can encourage it to be so again. So long as they are at the forefront of the movement and their communities directly benefit from it. I liked reading the passages about how Australian land fires have ignorantly been described as "destructive", "damaging", "unrelenting". This is so far from the truth when fires are placed in the native (true) Australian landscape. Current western farming methods have lead to on-going droughts and soil degradation on Australian land. These issues are directly linked to overcropping, as well as the introduction of non-native (feral) plants and animals. It is a relief to think that there is a prospective future in farming where these issues are vastly minimised; given the very practical solutions being provided by Pascoe and Gammage throughout the book.

I thought it was interesting how Pascoe mentioned the possibility of maintaining environmental sustainability in a capitalist economy. I find it hard to wrap my head around how Food Sovereignty could be achieved or maintained in those conditions. I think aspiring to that would have the inverse intended effect on sustainability. I'm not sure if there was a deliberate purpose behind that passage in the book.

Aside from being incredibly informative, I felt like this was an earnest, moving book about what is possible if we all took some responsibility and how First Nations knowledge is a priceless resource that can never be replaced.

[Simon B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both authors have written must-read histories about the sophisticated agriculture, horticulture and land management practices of pre 1788 Aboriginal peoples in Australia. This book focuses most on how this knowledge might be used in the future to the benefit of people and planet. Pascoe discusses the multitude of native grains, fruits and pulses that Aboriginal people cultivated sustainably for 1000s of years. These crops compare favourably to the European crops and high-input industrial farming that is compacting & eroding soil, increasing salinity and driving species extinctions. Gammage focuses most on Aboriginal use of fire and burning to transform the landscape in ways that promoted the spread of beneficial native animals and plants while sharply reducing huge wildfires. He makes a strong case that a return to these practices, adapted for modern circumstances, is even more needed in a time of dangerous climate change. Both authors insist that any future use of these knowledges by White Australia must not become yet another example of colonial theft but must instead involve empower and benefit Aboriginal people too.

[Edward]

Have done a bit of study on this incredibly interesting topic, this book is a good summary of traditional First Nations’ approaches to land care and fire management, specifically cultural burning. Gammage’s writing can be a bit dry but his knowledge is well evident. Pascoe’s wisdom and authority is always awe inspiring, he writes with such genuineness and heart, it’s always a privilege to read. He is a more big picture thinker in this book and briefly works in cursory political and economic theory, even feminism for a moment, whilst couching everything in the ecological. I fundamentally disagree with his arguments that environmental sustainability is compatible with market capitalism, and think his fantastic environmental analysis would logically marry with more radical theory. This line may be a strategic concession however I’m not sure. Overall a very good book on an incredibly important topic in Australia.

[Adam Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ideas in this book could revolutionise Australia as we know it . It shows how backward the guests were on arrival, assuming they could tame a new landscape with “continental” ideas.

At the end of the day we’ll still want to eat our ungulates and potatoes with three veg but we could potentially minimise our dependancy on their mass production through cultivation of what naturally grows here .

The other element of amazement in this book is the prevention of apocalyptic bushfires through fire farming. To put it simply, it is the ongoing maintenance of dead scrub which also can lead to assistance with hunting .

Please read this book

[Andrew Bysterveldt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging read but a little repetitive. It was interesting and enlightening to learn about traditional methods and reasons for Country management and to see that it was a form of “farming”. As a gardener and nature-lover, I learned a lot from the book. I found though, that this one wasn’t written as well as the first two books in this series. It was more political treatise than something written to educate and inform the “every person”. But still a book all Australians should read (as indeed is this series).

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a fascinating insight into pre-1778 Australia and how Indigenous peoples cared for the land (Country), as well as her natural resources & animals, reflecting on how far Australians of today have strayed from such practices. Gammage’s chapters on Fire demonstrated a wealth of knowledge and research (though I admit some of it was lost on me at times, being a little wordy). Pascoe wrote passionately about farming and trying to repair the future of Country using aboriginal methods. A great companion in the First Knowledge series and an interesting delve into Australia’s history.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

NAIDOC Week read. A firm 4.5 stars, rounded up by virtue of the references/bibliography. Gammage has a tendency of rambling sentences that could do with a clarifying comma or two, Pascoe weirdly gatekeepy about plant names, online saying Yuin words are not found on Google and it's intentional. Not expecting a western name, but if you're going to refer to grasses you're harvesting as garrara ngalluk and buru ngalluk, it would be delightful to learn their botanical names so I can read up on them in my own time or even grow them myself as I'm not due to visit Yuin country any time soon.

[Jeffrey Lehrer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having previously read books from both authors who contributed to this I knew what I was getting myself into when I picked up this book and yet even though they repeated a lot of information that they have published earlier because of the blended presentation of information from both authors it was not only a pleasure to read but it also contained new ways of engaging with the same information about pre-european agricultural practices in Australia.

[Gabriel Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes such a focused and excellent case for fire and sustainability in Australia. It should convince any open minded reader of its merits and/or arm readers to make the arguments for themselves when faced with these discussions (which we all are at some point).
Any conservationist, ecologist, agriculturalist, resource manager, politician or person with general interest in the future of Australia should read this book.

[Dillon Gorton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable and informative, I felt the writing was really approachable and educational without being too lecturous. Some sections were really quite inspiring and painted a compelling picture of the possibilities of Country / this country. I felt it did get a little repetitive after a while with some of the fire info and anecdotes feeling pretty well trodden by the end. Good book, an easy and quick read which will hopefully make you look at your surroundings through a different lens.

[Megan Hills · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beauty and complexity of how this country's First Nations cared for Country in Australia blows my mind. This book lays it out in a way not quite done before, in my experience. Plus it's a pretty easy read for those interested in how we should be managing our land for our long term survival. Kinda important.

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read Bill Gammage ‘greatest estate on earth’ and thought this would be a more accessible text. Misses a lot of his park state arguments that could help support the whole premise of the book. Nether less accessible to anyone. Was a big grandstand like towards the end. Interested to fill Bruce’s farm case study and whether he achieves his goals this century.

[Jay Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative. Fascinating knowledge that I think everyone who lives in Australia should read. Will I use this knowledge in my own life? Maybe not, but learning and being more aware of the land around you is always important (and interesting!) This book gave me a better insight of the country and a better appreciation for it. Excited to read some of the other books in this series. :D

[Lani · Rating 4 out of 5]

The earth is not our collateral, we are hers.

I think I find Bruce Pascoe's writing style a lot more accessible and immersive than Bill Gammage's, who can come across as rather academic. Nevertheless, this book was excellent, essential knowledge for everyone living in so-called Australia.

[Sarah De · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bill Gammage sections offered fantastic insights into how landscape was managed for millennia, I learnt a huge amount. I didn't enjoy the Bruce pascoe sections as much as his cherry picking approach to evidence really bothers me. Averages out to 3 stars.