What is fire-stick farming?
Q: What is fire-stick farming?
A: Fire-stick farming is the way that Indigenous Australians regularly used fire to burn the land, which helped hunting and caused new grass to grow, which attracted more animals. Over time, it changed the types of plants and animals that lived in an area.
Q: What were the benefits of fire-stick farming for hunting?
A: Fire-stick farming helped hunting by herding the animals into particular areas, which made them easier to catch.
Q: How did fire-stick farming change the types of plants and animals that lived in an area?
A: Fire-stick farming changed the types of plants and animals that lived in an area by turning scrub into grassland, which increased the numbers of grass-eating animals like the kangaroo.
Q: What is the link between fire-stick farming and the extinction of the Australian megafauna?
A: The changes caused by fire-stick farming are thought to have caused the extinction of the Australian megafauna.
Q: How did fire-stick farming affect the forests?
A: Fire-stick farming opened up clear areas in the forests, which let more plants grow at ground level. This increased the number of animals that could feed on these plants, such as the herbivore marsupials.
Q: Who used fire-stick farming?
A: Indigenous Australians used fire-stick farming as a way of shaping the land.
Q: When was fire-stick farming first described?
A: Fire-stick farming was first described by Australian archaeologist Rhys Jones in 1969.
