L'Inferno, The Horror.
Saturday Feb 7, 2009 l'inferno. A ferocious wind, a record high temperature of 46 degrees for Melbourne, a tinder dry state, and a sudden tornado of fire brought a hellish death to nearly 200 Victorians trapped in the inferno's path. Unfortunately this isn't the first time and it won't be the last. We have just past an anniversary of Ash Wednesday, 1983's firestorm fury, and in January we passed the 70th anniversary of the legendary Black Friday. News of the recent fires prompted me to read about Black Friday 1939 . These fires are the stuff of legend, burning almost a quarter of the state of Victoria. Fires that had been burning for some time, took hold on a scorching day and ripped through vast tracks of bushland. There are tales of sawmillers caught and killed in the open, charred unidentifiable bodies, scorched remains near cars on forest roads, people just lucky enough to make it inside a dugout or river to survive. Interestingly 1939, 1983, and 2009 were all preceded by dry Springs and a succession of 40 degree days, and on the day in question all had severe hot Northerly winds. In excess of 70 people died in each firestorm. Royal Commissions followed each (yet another has been called for this year) with countless recommendations. Despite all our knowledge and documented experience, the death toll still rises. I suppose they'll come up with a name for the day like Roasted Saturday. We are running out of apocalyptic days, we've already had a Black Friday, a Black Sunday, an Ash Wednesday, a Red Tuesday. History does repeat!
Dr Tim Flannery (the Future Eaters) wrote of the role fires played in shaping the Australian bush. Plant species best equipped to regenerate or germinate after fire will dominate and in the case of eucalypts, whose high flammability promotes fires, are winning this evolutionary arms race. In fact I'd say that on this continent the order of species goes, eucalyptus first, and us hominids a distant second.
The picture is one of mine, prepared in the chemical darkroom days of 1989, to capture mans fear of and fascination for fire. It is simply called 'the Horror.'
