The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Management Plan recommends ‘that Aboriginal cultural values are adequately accounted for in fire planning in the TWWHA’. Can historical documents written by colonisers be reliable informants in understanding those values or past Aboriginal fire practices? Historical observations are often used uncritically, as surrogates for local cultural knowledge lost through colonisation, or generalised across thousands years of environmental or cultural change. The potential return of Aboriginal fire practices in the TWWHA requires a deeper engagement between present day Aboriginal fire practitioners, current land managers, and various disciplines with an interest in the future fire story of the TWWHA.
Dr. Grant Finlay has worked in different roles with Tasmanian Aboriginal people since 1995. He has a PhD in Aboriginal Studies from the University of Tasmania. His book, ‘Good people always crackney in heaven’: Mythic conversations in lutruwita/Tasmania, was published by Fullers in 2019 as part of the Studies in the History of Aboriginal Tasmania series. Grant has worked with Aboriginal fire practitioners conducting cultural burns and recently completed a Master's degree in archaeology with a particular focus on past Tasmanian Aboriginal burning practices in what is now the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.