"Ash Wednesday" bushfires

On 16 February 1983, approximately one hundred fires broke out, devastating large areas of Victoria and South Australia and killing seventy-one people.

Victoria’s natural environment is one of the most fire-prone areas in the world: high temperatures, little precipitation, and strong winds make the Eucalyptus forests especially vulnerable. Disasters of similar scope occur only five to six times in a century.

Themes: 
Further Readings: 
  • Pyne, Stephen J. Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998.
Day: 
16
Month: 
2
Year: 
1983