Future eaters: an ecological history of the Australasian people and lands. Tim Flannery. 2000.

The Future Eaters describes the geography, flora and fauna of Australasia and the long history of how it has been changed and consumed by Aborigine, Māori, Polynesian and European peoples over a period of 60,000 years.

Flannery describes three waves of human migration within Australasia. The first wave was the migration to Australia and New Guinea from South-East Asia approximately 40,000 - 60,000 years ago. The second was Polynesian migration to New Zealand and surrounding islands 800 - 3,500 years ago. The third and final wave is European colonisation at the end of the eighteenth century.

Flannery’s most controversial hypothesis centres on Australian Aboriginal history. New sediment core studies show that the continent up until 100,000 years ago had much greater expanses of rainforest than after Aboriginal arrival. He poses the possibility that Aborigines altered the ecology of Australian flora and fauna through fire stick farming. Flannery also argues that at current population growth rates, Australasia is living beyond its population carrying capacity.