The outlawing of cultural burning on Noongar Boodja in the mid‑19th century

In 1847 the Western Australian Legislative Council passed An Ordinance to diminish the Dangers resulting from Bush Fires as the first law attempting to regulate the incidence of landscape fire in the Swan River Colony.This tool of colonialism was widely used to suppress burning by Noongar people, and had the consequence of limiting the capacity of First Nations Australians' ability to care for Country.Beyond that it did little to ameliorate destructive bushfires, and the long-term consequences of the suppression of First Nations people's ability to manage the landscape using fire are still being felt today.This paper investigates the impact of An Ordinance to diminish the Dangers resulting from Bush Fires 1847 1 (hereafter the Ordinance), Western Australian legislation designed to regulate deliberate landscape burning and destructive bushfires in the Swan River Colony.Before 1847, burning was conducted by both First Nations Australians and British colonisers, but the blame for bushfires was laid firmly on the former.First Nations Australians had used fire as a cultural tool to care for Country for millennia, but the British saw that fire as hazardous, and attempted to remove bushfire risk through legislation.However, this paper argues that the Ordinance was ineffective at limiting bushfires, probably creating conditions making them more likely and destructive.Beyond that it asserts that the Ordinance was primarily 1An Ordinance to diminish the Dangers resulting from Bush Fires 1847.