The Still-Burning Bush traces the environmental and social significance of the use of fire to shape the environment through Australian history, beginning with Aboriginal usage, and the subsequent passing of the firestick to rural colonists and then to foresters. Each transfer kindled a public debate over suitable fire practices but also about how Australians should live on the land. It has been a continuing argument between city and country; between greenies and ecologists and farmers and loggers; between those who live off the land and those who visit it; and between those who believe bushfire is ultimately an expression of a nature beyond human contrivance and those who believe humanity can, for good or ill, profoundly alter fire’s regimes.