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Guest Gallery Australian Photographer John Augusteyn |
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| Fire
in the Cape Violet Vale Station Cape York Queensland The Cape York landscape is very diverse dominated by open Melaleuca woodlands scattered with enormous magnetic termite mounds. Termites and fire play an integral role in the flow of nutrients in the cape's impoverished soils. Fire was once widely used by Aboriginals for hunting until Europeans settled in the cape. They bought with them their own ideas about fire management typically burning during the cooler times of the year when the chance of the fire escaping was reduced. Sadly this practice has resulted in the thickening of the woodlands at the expense of the grasslands and of course grass-feeding birds like the Cape York endemic Golden shouldered parrot. Fortunately, some property owners are re-instigating the traditional use of storm burns, which seem to suppress the Melaleuca |
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