Indigenous 'Cool Burns' Slash Bushfire Risk in Australia

When wildfire swept toward the Australian coastal town of Tathra in 2018, destroying 65 homes and scorching 1,200 hectares, it met an unexpected barrier. Six months earlier, the Bega Local Aboriginal Land Council had conducted a traditional "cool burn" on the town's edge, and the regrowing native grasses simply refused to carry the flames.

"Where we burned, didn't get scorched," said Peter Dixon, a Kamilaroi man who leads the cultural burn crew. The forest canopy stayed alive, the soil wasn't cooked bare, and firefighters were able to push the blaze away from houses.

Cultural burning uses low-intensity, patchy fires to reduce fuel loads without damaging ecosystems. It's a practice Indigenous Australians have used for tens of thousands of years. Unlike standard hazard reduction burns that run hotter and less frequently, these gentle fires can happen regularly and actually improve forest health.

The NSW Rural Fire Service confirmed the cultural burn helped stop the fire's advance into Tathra. Ironically, a conventional hazard reduction burn from 2009 nearby created thick regrowth that became fuel for the 2018 blaze.

Despite this success story, the Bega LALC hasn't been able to return to the Tathra site since 2018. State regulations require minimum intervals between burns that conflict directly with Indigenous knowledge about frequent, gentle fire use. No NSW legislation even recognizes the right to light fires for cultural purposes.

The biggest barrier now? Insurance. With more than 5.6 million Australian homes facing bushfire risk and Black Summer costing insurers $2.4 billion, you'd think they'd jump at proven prevention. But the Bega LALC pays nearly $20,000 annually for coverage that doesn't allow burns on private land, and most policies prohibit burning within a kilometer of homes, exactly where cultural burning does the most good.

The Ripple Effect

Specialty insurance broker Howden is working to change that. They're developing Australia's first cultural burning insurance product, expected by year's end. The proposal includes a self-insurance model where cultural burners contribute to a mutual fund for smaller claims, paying private insurers only for catastrophic coverage.

Matt Weaver, Howden's Head of Climate Risk and Resilience, argues governments should help cover insurance costs. "Pre-event mitigation is always going to cost a fraction of post-event recovery," he said. When cultural burning protects entire communities from devastating fires, it saves far more than insurance premiums.

Dr. Tony Bartlett, a forest fire management expert at Australian National University, calls it "a clash of two cultures." Western fire legislation never imagined lighting fires could maintain forest health. Now the land itself is proving that ancient wisdom right.

The green shoots growing in Tathra tell a story insurance companies are finally starting to read.