5th of April  1958    Wandilo, SA:  Pine Forest Fire
On 5 April, three men survived out of 11 firefighters who were exposed to intense radiation from a fire in a pine plantation.
Severeal fire vehicles had entered a plantation break when a firestorm developed. Two bogged trucks and one with a damaged gearbox could not escape and were involved in a 'burnover'.

Two firefighters lived by sheltering in the cabin of a firefighting truck, and the third, unable to reach a vehicle, dived into a deep wheel rut on the trail and covered himself with a coat.
Although high-intensity flame existed within a few feet of him, he had reduced the heat reaching his body to a point adequate for survival.

1st of February  1980    First  'Ash Wednesday' Adelaide Hills, SA:
Known in SA as the first 'Ash Wednesday', large bushfires raged through the Adelaide Hills resulting in 51 homes being destroyed and badly affecting 75 farms including buildings, fences and livestock lost. Orchards and market gardens were also ravaged causing $34 million in financial losses .

16th of February  1983    Southern Victoria and S.A. Bushfires
On 16 February 1983, 'Ash Wednesday', widespread, extreme fires fanned by winds gusting to over 100km/h (109 at Laverton, Vic and stronger on coast) and maximum temperature in Melbourne of 43.2 C with relative humidity readings of only 6%.
Similar conditions across much of Vic and SA resulted in a deadly rapid spread of the bushfires. They destroyed approximately 2,500 homes or major buildings.

In Victoria alone, these included 1719 houses (plus approx 300 in SA), 82 commercial properties (hotels, restaurants, stores, etc), and 23 dairies. Additionally, 1,238 farms were damaged in Vic contributing to a total of approximately 1,700 other (minor) buildings damaged in the two states. Also a large number of vehicles were destroyed.

Total deaths were 75 ( SA=28 and Vic=47*, incl 13 CFA & 2 other firefighters) and 2676 reported injuries. (*Note that the exact no. of deaths varies at official levels depending on when initially surviving victims succumbed to their injuries). Worst affected areas in Victoria included Framlingham (9 dead, 83 homes lost), Otway Ranges and Aireys Inllet (3 dead, 730 homes lost),Macedon and Mt Macedon (7 dead, 400 homes lost), Cockatoo (7 dead, 300 homes lost), Upper Beaconsfield and Belgrave Heights (21 dead, 180 homes lost).

In SA - Adelaide Hills (12 dead, 150 homes lost, incl 5 dead and 25 homes lost at Greenhill) and in the south-east of the State (14 dead, 40 homes lost mainly in the Mt Gambier area). Of 2676 injuries, 133 required hospitalisation

Over 300,000 livestock died (incl over 250,000 sheep and cattle in SA, 27,000 in Vic, plus thousands of others including poultry, pigs, horses, donkeys, deer, etc) while 15,900 km of fencing and 1.5 million hay bales burnt.

In SA alone, over 10,000km of fencing was destroyed across nearly 1000 rural properties.

More than 1 million ha burnt in Vic and SA during the 1982/83 summer with about half of that area affected during the main fires Feb 16-18 (210,000ha in Vic).

In SA alone, some indicative rural loss (1983) values, as reported by the SA Australian Agriculture Department included: Sheep $5.75m; cattle $2.1m; fencing, $10.2m; fixed assets, including homes, wool sheds, workshops & equipment $50m. These contributed to the State total estimated cost of $200m (1983 Review Team Report).

A total of 4,540 insurance claims were paid totalling $176m and a total estimated cost of well over $400m (1983 values) for both states combined.

Bushfire season 2002 - 2003
In 2002-03 the South Australia Country Fire Service (CFS) attended 34 forest fires, 677 scrub and grass fires, and 706 grass and stubble fires. The area burnt covered an area of almost 50,000 ha. This is more than double the total area burnt in the previous season.⁽¹⁾

10th of January  2005    Eyre Peninsula Bushfire , SA:
The Eyre Peninsula fire began on Monday 10th January and was contained by fire authorities, but 70 km/h winds and temperatures above 40 degrees pushed the blaze over containment lines on the Tuesday morning.

As the day progressed, more than 145,000 hectares were burnt.48,000 hectares were burnt in and near the small townships of Wangary, Wanilla, North Shields, Poonindie, Louth Bay, Greenpatch, and Yallunda Flat.

More than 300 Country Fire Service personnel, with assistance from landholders, combated the fire.The Port Lincoln airport was temporarily closed, preventing additional fire fighters flying in from Adelaide to help locals and volunteers fight the fire.

As the fire tore through North Shields, a small settlement north of Port Lincoln, residents were ordered to leave their home and head to the beaches.
The blaze raged through the caravan park at North Shields, destroying cabins and caravans. Residents at Louth Bay, were forced to evacuate and seek refuge on a beach.Some residents had to be rescued from the sea by emergency services after taking refuge in the water.

Eight people, including four children, died in their cars as they tried to flee the firestorm.
A local schoolteacher also died when flames engulfed the Shell Museum at North Shields, near Port Lincoln.  Approximately 110 were reported injured, including five who suffered serious burns and were flown to Adelaide for treatment. Several people were treated at Port Lincoln Hospital for burns and smoke inhalation.

Fire fighters reported extensive damage to livestock and property.
Property destroyed included 50 homes, dozens of cars, 15 caravans, two buses, three cabins, one shop, three vans and four boats.

There was also extensive damage to rural infrastructure, including water mains, power lines and telephone infrastructure. There were approximately 47,000 livestock (primarily sheep) killed or subsequently destroyed by the fire.
All fencing within about 890,000 hectares was destroyed, and of those hectares affected, 95% of pastures were also destroyed.

During this period there were 58 Human fatalities
Source:  Partially Referenced from: EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AUSTRALIA,
http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/webpages/HomePage?OpenDocument
⁽¹⁾   Australia-Victoria-Wildland-Fire-Statistics-2003 
http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de/inventory/database/Australia-Victoria-Wildland-Fire-Statistics-2003.doc.
Year Book Australia Environment Bushfires

The longest running Bushfires in Victoria’s fire history.

Australian Drought ( Henry Lawson 1900 )

Early Australian Settlers.

View article  The Great Australian Drought

View article : Chronology of Australian Droughts 1791 - 2008

Read article about how we have changed in the past 100 years.

Revised June 2009