Firing up the Anthropocene: Conflagration, Representation and Temporality in Modern Australia

The European colonization of Australia introduced a new population into continent in which Indigenous people had practiced cyclic burning as form ecosystem maintenance since time immemorial. settlers’ complete disdain for knowledge and related practices caused these customs to largely fall disuse. One result this was an increased vulnerability landscapes bush fires, factor that has risen the fore early twenty-first century. fires have swept across landscape with increasing frequency ferocity provoked fears rolling, fiery apocalypse might make living many areas untenable. This marks phase settler anxiety been fuelled by extensive coverage on broadcast digital media platforms. Blending discussions culture, 19th-21st-century visual art, literature modern communications media, article begins examining nature Anthropocene modernity very different worldviews Australian peoples. Particular attention is given senses working fire. Subsequent sections open up topic regard planetary present how we adjust future.