An Australian journal of fire and steel
Fire, steel and the Australian backyard
Barbecue GrillsIndependent long-form writing for Australian backyards, balconies and campgrounds.
Lead essay
Match household size, fuel, wind and strata rules to a grill class before you spend. A decision path for LPG, natural gas, charcoal, pellet, portable and built-in machines.
Callum Hartley · Hardware editor
Australian seasons
A July cook in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, the ACT or southern New South Wales is a heat-retention problem. Wind, a lid and the early dark decide the menu more than the recipe.
Tom Bellear · 14 July 2026
Care and safety
The Top End build-up and east-coast summer storms rust a barbecue faster than a winter in Melbourne. Clean it, dry it, keep the cover honest, and do not trap a wet machine in plastic.
Tom Bellear · 6 July 2026
The old barbecuegrills.com.au domain was a parked page. This journal keeps the name and the subject — Australian barbecue grills — and rebuilds it as a proper magazine.
Hardware
How to choose a barbecue grill in Australia — gas, charcoal, pellet, portable and built-in — without being talked into the wrong hood.
Combustion
LPG, natural gas, charcoal, pellets and Australian hardwoods — and how wind, hoods and bans change the fire.
Method
Temperature, two-zone fires, reverse sears, whole birds and the long cook — written for backyard Australian equipment.
The table
Lamb for Australia Day, ham at Christmas, prawns, vegetables and the unglamorous work of feeding a crowd.
The yard
Built-in benches, balcony rules and the difference between a pretty outdoor kitchen and one you can still clean in February.
Judgement
Cleaning, seasoning, grease fires, wet-season storage and the days you should not light anything at all.
Climate
Heatwave timing, southern winters and the calendar that actually governs an Australian barbecue.
A flare-up is fat meeting flame. A hot spot is uneven fire. A grease fire is a tray or tamer that has become fuel. They are related, and they are not fixed with a spray bottle of water.
Total fire bans are local, they change with the day, and a backyard barbecue can be legal, restricted or forbidden. Check the fire service, then decide whether dinner belongs on the grill at all.
Seasoning is a thin polymer film on iron, not a flavour and not a wash. Do it once, then keep it with heat, oil and the right kind of cleaning.
A gas barbecue that is not cleaned becomes a grease fire and a rust farm. The useful job is regular, not heroic, and it starts while the grill is still warm.
Strata by-laws, smoke and fire bans decide what you can cook on an Australian balcony. The rules are local, and a neighbour’s Weber Q is not a permit.
Drainage, gas certification, benches, shade and coastal rust decide whether a backyard kitchen still works in February, not the colour of the splashback.