What Is Aboriginal Fire Sticks Used For

By burning the leaves of boreen specifically the acacia they perform a cleansing ceremony.

What is aboriginal fire sticks used for. Fire stick farming also known as cultural burning and cool burning is the practice of indigenous australians regularly using fire to burn vegetation. The solution was found in message sticks an ancient form of communication that has been used for tens of thousands of years and is still in use today in some parts of australia. This helped hunting by herding the animals into particular areas and also caused new grass to grow which attracted more animals. At the time of european contact australian aborigines made fire using four methods.

In the resultant sclerophyll forests fire stick farming maintained an open canopy and allowed germination of understorey plants necessary for increasing the carrying capaci. The hand drill used across the northern and coastal regions. Traditional message sticks were made and crafted from wood and were generally small and easy to carry between 10 and 30 cm. Fire stick farming are words used by australian archaeologist rhys jones in 1969.

They describe the way that indigenous australians used fire regularly to burn the land. Aboriginal use of fire numbuk yabbun are very important to aboriginal culture. Aboriginal australians pre date the extinction of the australian megafauna. When entering or leaving country they hold a numbuk yabun.

The associated loss of browsing and grazing animals resulted in savannah changing into dry forest. Firesticks alliance indigenous corporation is an indigenous led network and aims to re invigorate the use of cultural burning by facilitating cultural learning pathways to fire and land management.