2002 Bushfires

Agni is the old Vedic god of fire and is traditionally known as the guardian of the south-east - from whence the main fires came in 2002, consuming much of the Brindabella Valley and then the western suburbs of Canberra. Agni is also known as the messenger of all the other gods and if traditional Vedic scripture had any application to Australia's southern ranges the fires did change a lot of ideas about the environment and acted as a catalyst for the developing awareness of climate change.

The fires were devastating for many landholders in the Brindabella Valley and for a lot of wildlife. Parts of the Reserve were burnt badly but many parts totally escaped the flames. The property adjacent and to the south of the Reserve suffered the greatest housing loss in the valley with two houses burning down. The old ironbark slab hut and the yurt survived even though the fires appeared to sweep over and around them as well. However a few interesting things have been observed on the Reserve, including the fact that there appears to be more Lyrebirds around than there ever was and that apart from one of two singed wombats, they also appear to be thriving after the fires. We noticed a distinct lack of rabbits for the first two years after the fires but in the third and fourth years they have started to build up again but with a noticeable increase in the number of black ones!

The fires are best viewed through the Gallery section of this site.They were taken the day after the fire.