Adjustment to bushfire hazard in North Queensland, Australia

Abstract

The main aim of this study involves the identification and explanation of the differing responses to the bushfire hazard arising from within a sample population of graziers in a sheep/cattle region. A survey was undertaken to ascertain the specific actions taken by graziers in adjustment to the fire hazard, and to ascertain the graziers' perceptions of and attitudes towards the hazard. Variations in response to the hazard were identified between groups of residents of distinctly different land systems within the study area. The survey results point to the existence of a number of significant relationships between various elements of the graziers' environment and these variations in response. The strongest of these relationships is shown to be between the physical environmental influences and modifications made by the graziers to the natural-events subsystem The second part of the thesis involves the identification of the variety of adjustments made in the human-use subsystem of this hazardous environment. An attempt is made to establish the relative significance of physical environmental, socio-economic and perceptual influences in the adjustment decision process. Hie patterns of adjustment observed are explained in terms of these influences, and conclusions about these patterns are drawn in the final chapter. The closing comments of the thesis involve firstly an evaluation of the contribution made by this study to contemporary geography, and then finally a view of the implications for, and the necessity of, further research in this direction. Show more