Peter McHugh
Forty years ago, south-eastern Australia was in the middle of a prolonged drought and facing a perilous bushfire season. A new e-book by retired Victorian forester, Peter McHugh, provides a detailed account of the 1982-83 bushfire season from a new perspective. Source: Australian Rural & Regional News
While the bushfire season is best remembered for those on Ash Wednesday on 16 February 1983, where 47 people died in Victoria and a further 28 in South Australia, significant bushfires occurred right across Victoria from August 1982 until April 1983.
It was a long and hectic fire season for the Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) which attended 878 fires on State forests and National Parks totalling 486,030 ha, which was well above the 11-year average of 141,000 ha.
Over the 1982-83 fire season, 22 Total Fire Ban (TFB) days were declared, and the Country Fire Authority (CFA) attended nearly 3,200 fires during the summer fire danger period.
A large part of this document outlines the accumulated wisdom, achievements, planning and preparations undertaken by the Forests Commission to build an effective firefighting organisation in the decades following the catastrophic 1939 bushfires, and Judge Streeton’s landmark Royal Commission.
There were many “firsts” … and a lot to be proud of…
Two major campaign bushfires at Cann River, together with a forensic analysis of the bushfire at Greendale on 8 January 1983 which killed two Forests Commission bulldozer operators, Des Collins and Alan Lynch, is included.
The ebook describes the role of the Commission and CFA in the major bushfires on Ash Wednesday including the Otways, Macedon, Cockatoo, Upper Beaconsfield and Warburton.
The bushfires of the 1982-83 season were the last that the Forests Commission fought in its own right. From mid-1983, the entire organisation was disrupted and distracted when the Victorian State Government announced the creation of an amalgamated Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands (CFL).
The Commission is the direct ancestor of DELWP, FFMVic and Parks Victoria.
And while the book gives strong emphasis to the role of the Commission, it acknowledges the significant and important part played by Victoria Police, the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Country Fire Authority (CFA) and other volunteer organisations like the Red Cross, State Emergency Service (SES) and St John Ambulance.
This story of the momentous bushfire season was assembled using internet searches, newspaper accounts, coroner’s reports, FCV files held in the Public Record Office, witness statements, police reports, personal recollections and some limited interviews. There remain significant gaps and sadly many of the key FCV staff are no longer alive or available to give their version of events.
The e-book has been lodged in the State and National libraries as an enduring record of the achievements of the Forests Commission during 1982-83. The main aim being to place the story on the public record in time for the 40th anniversary.
It’s free to download and share with lots of photos and maps.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3112961467/view
Peter McHugh graduated with a Diploma from the Victorian School of Forestry at the end of 1977 and his first postings with the Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) were to Mirboo North and then later to Kallista/Gembrook.
Peter retired from the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP) in 2016 after nearly 39 years of service and now finds time to volunteer in his local community as well as write about some of Victoria’s rich forests and bushfire history.
