GSWW Section 4 – Cobboboonee Camp to Fitzroy Camp

Different plants respond to bushfire in different ways. Some need it more than others.

Fire is part of the bushland lifecycle. It has occurred in Cobboboonee over the lifetime of the forest. Historically the forest was burnt annually to promote new growth and later to reduce the plant fuel (branches and leaves) left on the ground following logging.

Black Friday 1939 is remembered as a devastating bushfire which raged throughout local forests destroying many mill sites.

Many plants in the forest such as the Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata) are rejuvenated after fire, relying on the fire’s heat to open hard woody seedpods to release the seeds. But not all forests need fire all the time. Some trees do not thrive in fire and can wait up to 10 years before growing fruit and seeds again.

Without available food, some animals are not able to breed or survive until fire recovery is well advanced. Some, such as the Heath mouse only breed in the following few years as they rely on plants and fungi that only grow immediately following a fire.

Native cherry or Cherry Ballart (Exocarpus cupressiformis) is a small sized pine or cypress-like tree. It is a hemi-parasite, meaning it attaches to the roots of other plants, usually nearby eucalypts. It thrives following bushfire by sprouting suckers from roots protected beneath the soil. The small hard green fruits ripen to a cherry red. Its unusual feature is how the fruit is actually the enlarged succulent flower stalk. The seed ends up at the tip, outside of the fruit body.

Traditional Owners used Cherry Ballart sap as a cure for snake-bite and the wood was fashioned into spear-throwers.

Bracken fern has roots or rhizomes rich with starch. Traditional Owners knew they must be roasted to destroy the natural toxins within underground stems. The young fern fronds can also be roasted in hot ashes and eaten. Sap extracted from crushed leaves of the bracken can be used as salve on stings and bites from bull ants and stinging nettle.