Reflections
on the Kosciuszko National Park Fires
Preparing the
photos and typing up the journal ready for scrapbooking, I have had the
opportunity to reflect. We were
incredibly lucky to see the beauty of Kosciuszko National Park. Particularly in
the Thredbo area it was evident how long recovery from a fire takes in an
alpine climate, damage from the 2003 fires was readily apparent. Many of the things we visited are no
longer. We left as planned, but the park
was closed, and all tourists and residents evacuated days later. Now it is February and still large areas of
the park that we visited are closed due to fire. Towns we visited lost homes, Kiandra is no
more, huts we visited are gone. We were
incredibly fortunate, and we are heartbroken at the losses. We must learn as a community how to use fire
on a small scale to protect us from large scale uncontrollable fires. We live in a beautiful but tough country and
we must learn to work with it. This is a
land that cannot be moulded to human desires without consideration of the
land’s needs but can be lived with in peace by respect. Perhaps the relative newcomers should learn
from those who have lived here far longer, how to get along with this beautiful
rugged country.
