This table provides mid-infrared absorbance spectra of individual charcoal fragments isolated from a 1 m sediment core at Purghagoolah (Lake Elusive), a lake of approximately 40 ha and 21 m depth in Croajingolong National Park, Gippsland, southeastern Australia, on Gunaikurnai Country (37°44'50"S, 149°27'9"E; decimal -37.747222, 149.452500, WGS84; 50 m a.s.l.), cored on 9 February 2021 with a Universal Corer (Aquatic Instruments), used to reconstruct past fire (pyrolysis) temperature. Approximately 20 charcoal fragments per level were isolated from undigested sediment, and transmission FTIR spectra were acquired on a Nicolet iN10 MX infrared microscope using OMNIC Picta software over the mid-infrared range. Each row is one fragment, identified by its sample age (a BP), with absorbance reported at each wavenumber from 951 to 3499 cm-1. The spectra were compared against a modern reference spectral library (provided separately in this submission) by analogue matching to estimate maximum pyrolysis temperature. A total of 1,092 fragment spectra are included.