Stories From: Bushfire

Hamish Dunlop visits Sonters Fern Nursery in Winmalee. David Sonter tells him how the 2013 Winmalee fire destroyed the nursery and spore bank, and of its recovery with a lot of community help.

Zig Zag Railway is open again after series of disasters. How does a team of volunteers keep coming back, despite so many adversities ?

Habitat for Humanity is supplying the Medlow Bath community with CB radios and providing property services to vulnerable people to reduce risk during disasters.

Hamish Dunlop talks to the Bush Fire Resilience Team at Springwood Neighbourhood Centre Co-operative Ltd. to find out how they have been assisting people to overcome 'preparedness fatigue'.

Inspired by Japanese Zen Buddhism, Anne Mellor has designed her Springwood home, in a Flame Zone, around water.

  In March this year, Japanese journalist Harumi Hayakawa wrote a piece for the Japanese publication Asahi Weekly in which she explained why the terrifying Australian fires of December 2019 actually made her like the Blue Mountains even more.     In her article she described the many ways the community came together during and after the fires and how, …

Hamish Dunlop interviews Deborah Wells in the Blackheath Campbell Rhododendron Gardens. She shares how a group of passionate and dedicated volunteers have created a community space that is a haven for all species, and how they've helped it recover from drought, fire, flood and pandemic.

It’s almost five months since the ‘megafire’ burnt through the native section of Blackheath’s Campbell Rhododendron Gardens on the 21st December 2019, leaving Blackheathens with a charred landscape and a charred psyche.     The Fires were followed by flooding rains in early February which removed much of the top soil. Stones were left suspended on tiny sandstone towers … …

After devastation, the restorative forces of nature begin the process of healing. On the 22nd December 2019, Australia’s biggest forest fire, which had already destroyed an area seven times the size of Singapore, raced up the gully below Clarence St and burnt to within 10m of Eva and Bill Johnstone’s property, just above Pope’s Glen in Blackheath. It burnt all …

On January 8 The Big Fix visited renowned wildlife carer Margaret Gough at Mt Victoria in the Blue Mountains. We were thrilled that some of the wallaroos and birds that had disappeared when the fires came, were alive and healthy and starting to return. Margaret demonstrated what we can do to help provide the food and water they so desperately need …