Australian
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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows home movie footage of the Canberra bushfire disaster that occurred on 18 January 2003. A reconstructed scene of cinematographer and narrator Konrad Dimpel peering from his study window is followed by actuality footage of the sun glowing in a darkened sky and of the reddish glow of the approaching fires. Scenes from Farrer Ridge Nature Reserve (nearly 10 km south of Parliament House) show the surrounding suburbs in premature darkness at 3 pm. The second half of the clip, filmed after 4 pm, shows fire on a wide front moving down the Ridge towards Dimpel’s house.

Educational value points

• The source of the Canberra bushfire disaster was four separate bushfires to the west of Canberra ignited by lightning in the Brindabella Mountains and Namadgi National Park on 8 January 2003. The fires grew steadily until two of the fires combined on 14 January. On 17 January a north-westerly wind, with gusts of up to 58 km per h, pushed the fires through containment lines (wide strips of land around the fire that have either been backburned or soaked in fire retardant) towards Canberra. On 18 January at about 3.15 pm a firestorm hit Duffy, the westernmost suburb south of Lake Burley Griffin and about 10 km north-west of the Dimpel house. The clip provides actuality footage of conditions in the southern suburbs of Canberra just before the fire hit.

• The Dimpel house is built at the base of Farrer Ridge, a 3-km wooded ridge that forms a semicircle around the southern edge of the suburb of Farrer, which is about 8–9 km south of Parliament House in Canberra. The house backs onto the 177.8 ha Farrer Ridge Nature Reserve, which is seen here well alight.

• The fire in the clip threatened Farrer when it came down the Ridge on a wide front from the west and south-west. In his narration Dimpel expresses astonishment that fire could come from a westerly direction, as Farrer is surrounded by other suburbs to the west and south-west. Before 2003, very few Canberra residents would have believed that fire could penetrate so deeply.

• The open design of Canberra increased its vulnerability to fire. Suburbs are clustered in a series of mini-cities – Belconnen and Gunghalin to the north of central Canberra, Woden, Weston Creek and Tuggeranong to the south – with bushland and nature reserves in between. Duffy is in Weston Creek and Farrer in Woden, while the Farrer Ridge separates the Woden Valley and Tuggeranong. Following the firestorm in Duffy and other suburbs of Weston Creek, fire spread to the south-east, and travelled along bushland reserves between Weston Creek and Woden until. by 4 pm, it had crossed Athllon Drive, a major road linking Woden and Tuggeranong and, as revealed in the voice-over, was burning on Farrer Ridge.

• The ferocity of the fires in Canberra and surrounding areas overwhelmed emergency services and initially there were no additional firefighters or fire trucks available to handle the fires along the reserves and on Farrer Ridge. Dimpel was able to save his house, but the threat from the fire continued throughout the night. After fire crews arrived in the late afternoon, they spent all night putting out fires and protecting properties. It was only at 11 am the following day that the crews were able to leave the fire ground. Full-time and volunteer firefighters came from all over the country to help fight the Canberra fires.

• Four people were killed in the Canberra bushfires, 260 were injured and 2,500 evacuated, while 530 houses were destroyed and hundreds more were damaged. The area was not considered to be fire-prone, and no-one expected the fires to encroach into suburbs of the city. One of the most persistent recriminations following the disaster was about the lack of any warning. The December 2006 report of the inquiry into the Canberra firestorm concluded, 'The Emergency Services Bureau should have warned the people of ACT [the Australian Capital Territory] of the potential for disaster by fire. For at least five days, possibly 10, this was within the knowledge of ESB [Emergency Services Bureau] personnel’ (www.courts.act.gov.au).

• Konrad Dimpel (1927–) is an experienced amateur cinematographer and editor. The fades between scenes, slow pans and zoom close-ups of the approaching fire combine with the recorded ambient sounds of sirens and burning to create a vivid impression of the unfolding events. This is enhanced by the voice-over, skilful editing and choice of slow, melancholic background music.

• The 71-minute home movie from which the clip is taken was intended for Dimpel’s relatives in Germany and is an individual’s account of one of the fires that made up the Canberra disaster, set within the context of Dimpel’s close attachment to Farrer Ridge. The clip illustrates the power of the home movie genre in presenting an authentic and highly personalised story.