The Burning Conversation

** THEATRE IS NOW SOLD OUT - LIVESTREAM ONLY AVAILABLE ** Australia has long been The Land of Fire, shaped by tens of millions of years of continental desiccation, wildfire, and the rafting of tectonic plates. But are we on the cusp of a new, unprecedented Age of Fire? How can we best prepare to protect people and nature? People in Australia have had a close connection with fire throughout history - from cultural fire to land clearning, bushfires and planned burning. We have an intense interest in the landscape fire regime and how both communities and nature respond and are impacted. How are decisions made about the benefits of planned burning, where to burn and where to protect, in Australia’s annual fuel reduction programs? These issues are all part of THE BURNING CONVERSATION now facing us as a nation, as individuals and as connected communities. The Royal Society of Victoria has assembled two of Australia’s leading fire science and modelling experts, Professor TRENT PENMAN and Dr PHIL ZYLSTRA, to explain the science and the choices that we face in what could be a very different future. • Trent Penman, Professor in Bushfire Behaviour at The University of Melbourne • Phil Zylstra, fire behaviour scientist and Adjunct Associate Professor at Curtin University Join us live on Monday 21 September for a compelling conversation moderated by writer and oral historian GREGG BORSCHMANN. Light refreshments and drinks will be served after the event.