Most of these photos were taken years before the recent Australian bushfires

This article is more than one year old.
Published on January 28, 2020 at 07:50
4 min read
By AFP Australia

Six photos have been shared tens of thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook alongside a claim they show botanical regrowth following the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires. The claim is misleading; only two of the images were taken after the recent bushfires – the other four have circulated in reports about unrelated events.

This Facebook post was published on January 7, 2020. It has had more than 34,000 shares. The caption reads: “Australia Bushfire is Blooming Again” and “Regrowth after a Australia Bushfire.”

Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:

Other Facebook posts were published here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here with a similar claim.

The claim is misleading; most of the photos have circulated in reports about unrelated events.

-- Resprouting trees in 2009 --

The first image of resprouting trees has circulated in reports since May 2009, more than one decade before the recent bushfires.

A Google reverse image search found the photo published here by Getty Images with a caption that reads: “New tree growth sprouts on the 3 month anniversary of 'Black Saturday', Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire, on May 7, 2009 in Marysville, Australia.”

Below is a screenshot of the post:

--New growth emerging from tree--

This photo of reddish growth emerging from a tree trunk has circulated in reports about recent bushfires.

A Google reverse image search found the photo was featured in this ABC News article dated November 27, 2019. The photo’s caption reads: “New growth is already emerging in the Lake Innes Nature Reserve.”

Below is a screenshot of the photo as it appears in the article:

--Palm sprouting in 2016--

A Google reverse image search found this image of palm sprouting here in a 2016 ABC News article, which covered natural regrowth following the Waroona bushfire in January 2016.

The image’s caption reads: “A zamia palm re-sprouts just a few weeks after the Waroona bushfire.”

Below is a screenshot of the image in the ABC News article:

--Tiny green sprouts in 2015--

A Google reverse image search found this photo of small green sprouts emerging from the ground featured in this ABC News article published on April 20, 2015.

The image’s caption reads: “Sprouts of regrowth at Kestel Road Forest. Rainfall following the fires has helped to spur trees back into growth.”

Below is a screenshot of the image in the article:

--Fire lily from an African plant photo database--

This image of a fire lily is actually from a database of African plant photos.

A Google reverse image search found the photo published here in the database of the Senckenberg Society for Natural Research, which maintains a photo guide for African plants.

The photo’s caption states that the picture was taken on December 4, 2005 in the Western Cape of South Africa.

Below is a screenshot of the entry:

--Resprouting on a tree trunk is from 2020 bushfires--

This photo of red shrubs appearing on a tree trunk has circulated in reports about recent bushfires.

A Google reverse image search found this article published by BBC News on January 11, 2020.

The photos were credited to Murray Lowe, who also published them in a Facebook post here with his watermark.

Below is a screenshot of the Facebook post:

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