Burn: The Epic Story Of Bushfire In Australia

Synopsis

'Dry heat and hot, dry winds worked upon a land already dry, to suck from it the last,least drop of moisture. Men who had lived their lives in the bush went their ways in theshadow of dread expectancy. But though they felt the imminence of danger they could not tell that it was to be far greater than they could imagine. They had not lived long enough.' - Report of the Royal Commission into the bushfires of January 1939. With the start of every bushfire season and the first threatening hints of burning eucalyptin the air, we are reminded, no matter where we live, that bushfire is an inescapable reality in this country. Drawing on accounts of the most devastating conflagrations in Australia's European history - from the 1851 Black Thursday fire (which burnt out one quarter of Victoria), to the 1939 Black Friday fires (which took many lives and destroyed thousands of hectares in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania) the Canberra inferno of 2003, and Black Saturday of February 2009 - Paul Collins tells the epic story of bushfire in Australia. Frightening, compelling, vivid, and provocative, Burn reveals the stories of heroism, stupidity, political incompetence, and environmental vandalism. This is the grand narrative of bushfire in Australia, the most fire-prone land on Earth. PAUL COLLINS, a religious commentator and historian, is the author of nine books. He has a strong interest in environmental issues and lost a house and 425 hectares of bush during the January 2003 fires that swept through large parts of the Snowy Mountains.