Glossary

Abnormal weather patterns: Weather patters which are not the normal or usual.
Aborigines: Natives of Australia.
Agriculture: The art or practice of cultivating land.
Agricultural burn offs. A general term used to describe burning off fuel on farms and stations for agricultural purposes usually with the permission of various state/territory departments and local government and under their regulations and guidelines.
Arson: The act of starting fires. Arson is often referred to as pyromania.
Bush: Rural areas of Australia.
Bushfire: A fire in a forested area in the Australian bush or rural areas.
Bushfire Service: A service of fire fighters who work in the bush or rural areas of Australia. Also known as the Rural Fire Service.
Campers: Persons who set up temporary quarters such as a tent for travelers.
Campfire: A fire at a camp site lit for cooking or heating by campers or tourists visiting an area.
Controlled burn off: A system of burning off fuel in winter and early spring under controlled conditions and under government regulations to reduce the chance and dangers of bushfires.
Darwinian: A term which refers to the Naturalist, Charles Darwin’s, theory of natural selection and the survival of the fittest.
Drought: A prolonged period of no rainfall in an area.
Ecology: The study of organisms in relation to the environment.
Ecosystem: A system of organisms within a particular environment.
El nino: Literally “bad child” but refers to a weather phenomenon whereby the weather is uncooperative in a particular area as the weather becomes unseasonable ie it does not rain in winter.
Environment: The surroundings or conditions influencing development or growth. Generally used to describe the environs of a region.
Fauna: The collective animals of a region or a period or a list or account of such animals.
First Fleet: The first fleet of British soldiers, settlers and convicts which arrived at Botany Bay in 1778 and settled in Sydney Cove on the 26 January 1788 under the leadership of Governor Arthur Phillip.
Flora: The collective plants of a region or a list of such plants.
Forest management: A system of management of the forest’s resources usually under local government and state/territory and/or federal legislation and regulations and guidelines.
Fuel: A general term for dead leaves branches, barks, trees, and grass which can be used by a bushfire to consume an area.
Heat wave: A prolonged period of time usually in summer whereby the temperatures are unusually high.
Horticulture: The art or skill of cultivating gardens.
Jurisdiction: A term generally used to indicate an Australian state or territory or the Federal Government’s area of authority.
Legislation: Laws or Statutes made by Parliament for a particular purpose to regulate behaviour.
Lightening strike: A term used to describe a natural phenomena of lightening striking a tree(s) and causing bushfires.
National economy: A term used to describe the economy of the nation in this case the economy of Australia.
Native: In a natural state, simple and unaffected.
Natural: Produced by or according to nature.
Psychopathic: Behaviour by an individual who is emotionally unstable to a level approaching the pathological, but with no specific or marked mental disorder.
Pyromaniac: A person who has a type of mental illness who has tendencies towards incendiarism. Such persons have an obsessive compulsive reaction or a symptom of an antisocial personality and have an unconscious motivation for defiance of a particular authority figure or “the establishment”. Generally pyromaniacs light fires as an expression of aggression, or sexual drives that do not find another outlet.
Regional area: An area usually in the rural areas of Australia which is not one of the main population centers.
Regional economy: The economy of a regional area.
Regulations: Usually refers to the regulations made by parliament to administer or regulate certain legislation.
Rural: A term used to refer to the country or bush areas of Australia.
State: A sovereign Australian political entity.
Territory: An area of Australia not yet admitted as a state of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Tourist: A person who takes a tour, a sight-seeing traveler.
Volunteer: A person who performs duties of his/her own free will and without remunerations.
Volunteer Bushfire Service: An organization made up of voluntary unpaid men and women who fight bushfires.