1939 Stretton Royal Commission

The 1939 fires – a blame game

5 January 2024 / 4 Comments

“And of course there were ignitions by the fistful. Lightning kindled some fires, but most emanated from a register of casual incendiarists that reads like a roster of rural Australia: settlers, graziers, prospectors, splitters, mineworkers, arsonists, loggers and mill bushmen, hunters looking to drive game, fishermen hoping to open up the scrub around the streams, foresters unable to contain controlled burns, bush residents seeking to ward off wildfire by protective fire, travellers and transients of all kinds.

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70 years of bushfires – have the lessons learnt been ignored ?

25 June 2022 / 2 Comments

This blog focuses on two Victorian bush fire disasters 70 years apart. It highlights a failure of governance, a failure to heed fire expert advice, a preoccupation with an emergency response model that has failed in North America and is failing forests and residents in Australia, and an arrogant contempt towards previous bushfire inquiries.… Read more

A Charred landscape

13 October 2022 / 10 Comments

“The dead ash forests reach starkly towards the sky like sentinels bearing witness to the holocaust just past, and those who love the bush are heavy hearted because this may be only the beginning of what is yet to come.” David Treasure, 2007[1]

Since 1939, the high-country forests in Victoria were relatively free of devastating wildfires.… Read more

Living within a forest in a fire environment

14 March 2024 / 2 Comments

I dedicate this blog to the memory of Lana Syme (1939-2021), who visited and stayed at her aunties place near Olinda in her youth. Lana loved the area and with husband Bill, settled in Olinda 35 years ago.

Nearly one hundred years ago, small sawmill settlements were located within tall productive forests in the central highlands.… Read more