Black Summer was a monster on the loose, hydra-headed, coming from multiple directions and overwhelmingly vast.
The giga fires of 2019-2020 chewed through geographical borders, ripping up shire boundaries. They burnt during the night – and through the miles – in ways not previously seen before.
Fighting fires felt like battling armageddon.
Emergency leaders had warned about Australia being prepared for them.
Eurobodalla’s Lynette Smith reflects on Black Summer’s scale, here in our South East.
Photography – Beth Boughton
“Fire is to our south, west and north, the sea’s the only clear front” …these haunting words from author Bronwyn Adcock, taken from her highly acclaimed novel ‘Currowan’ describe first hard her experiences in the Black Summer bushfires that ravaged the east coast of NSW during the summer months of 2019/ 2020.
Stretching from Nowra in the north to Braidwood in the west and south to Batemans Bay the Currowan Fire knew no geographical boundaries as it ravaged an area over 5000 sq kilometres.
In the north the fire moved through the Morton National Park and became the Morton Fire and impacted the town of Bundanoon. In the south the fire had devastated such a large area that a new name was adopted, so the Clyde Mountain Fire was created in time for it to tear through on NYE 2019 and devastate the town of Mogo and the coastal villages of Rosedale and Malua Bay.
Meanwhile from the south the Badja Fire was pushing out of the Bega Valley into the southern Eurobodalla and into the Deua River. Inevitably not before too long the fires all joined !
Photographs taken by Lyn’s Wingecarribee friend Beth in Shoalhaven shire on greater Yuin Country capture the burnt grounds of the Currowan fire. Its deadly dragon breath, the Clyde Mountain fire would blaze south into Eurobodalla.
Wingecarribee, Shoalhaven, Eurobodalla and Bega Valley are names on a map that may divide and form borders in the the South East corner of NSW but the catastrophic fires of the Black Summer knew no boundaries as it ravaged the region that saw these borders dissolve!
Each of the Shires were gripped with the same fear, terror and trauma but are united now by these shared experiences. The communities faced, and still do face, enormous hardships but have shown resilience and stand together now as they all ask the same questions why weren’t we better prepared, what have we learnt and what can be done to prepare for the future?
Recommendended Reads
Currowan: The Story of a Fire and a Community During Australia’s Worst Summer
by Bronwyn Adcock
Other Reads
“Storms, tornadoes and explosions: How bushfires are getting stranger? As Australia’s fire seasons intensify and unlikely parts of the globe burn, how is the behaviour of fire changing? How have people managed fire in the past? And how might we live with the big blazes of the future? ” by Sherryn Groch FEB 3, 2021
WOOEE April_2022
