SCORCHED TO THE CORE

The Straddie Assault, Jim Beam Surftag, the ASP Banquet … all essential annual torch-ups required to keep the Australian surfing ecosystem in balance. So too is the Australian bushfire season. The occasional fire is an essential part of this ancient estate. Charred old growth provides essential nutrients for the dormant seed bank. Seedlings get sunlight and rain through the reduced canopy. Fauna can freely graze the emerging shoots. Death, rebirth, fire and floods are all finely balanced elements in this challenging ecosystem.

But now, it’s a different game entirely. Unprecedented drought, clearly symptomatic of climate change, has increased our nation’s flammability to SMP polyester tracksuit levels. Weather is more volatile, forests are drier and bushfires are more cataclysmic than ever. It’s changing the continent in a very permanent way.

The 2019 bushfire season began far