I was told by a guide that when European settlers originally arrived in Australia, Indigenous populations burnt their land to get the Europeans to move on.
I am aware that the Indigenous did burn their land already for purposes like fire-stick farming, so it kind of makes sense that they might do this early in order to make the land uninhabitable for the Europeans.
The second part the guide told me was that some Australians actually copied the Aboriginals doing this. At the very beginning of Australia's colonization, the Europeans thought that the Aboriginals were trying to tend to the land and therefore copied several times.
The guide said this caused several large bushfires which devastated the land irreparably.
I'm just wondering if anyone can confirm whether this is true or not and if it provides some sort of suitable (preferably first hand) source.
I am aware that the Indiginous did burn their land already to restore it to its natural form
I would say that "its natural form" was "unburnt". Maybe you are thinking about fire-stick farming, but its objective was not to "restore land".