Wildfires have ravaged the Australian landscape since time immemorial, and while these blazes can be a natural part of the nation's ecology, they often result in devastating loss of life and serious injuries, as well as damage to property and swathes of farmland. Worryingly, the severe bushfires that raged through the Australian summer of 2019/20 showed that climate change is turning parts of the country into a tinderbox, exacerbating bushfire risk. With El Niño bringing hot and dry conditions to the country once again we take a look back in time at the most catastrophic conflagrations ever.

Around 50 million hectares (123 million acres) of land are scorched across Australia each year typically and about 80% of bushfire-affected areas are in northern savannah regions. But, the majority of deaths occur in Victoria, which is of course considerably more populous. Among the worst was the inferno of 6 February 1851, now known as Black Friday. 

 

A long period of drought, an intense heatwave coupled with strong desiccating northerly winds provided the perfect bushfire conditions, in what is now Victoria (the state was formally established in July of that year). The bushfires were reportedly started in the Plenty Ranges after a pair of cattle drivers left logs burning in a bone-dry field. The inferno consumed 5 million hectares (12.3 million acres) making it the most extensive in modern Australian history.

Worst of all, 12 people were killed in the fires, which were especially devastating in the Dandenong,  Heidelberg, Plenty Ranges, Portland, Westernport and Wimmera districts, although the thick smoke reached as far as northern Tasmania. Animals suffered greatly with one million sheep and thousands of cattle lost, along with myriad wildlife.

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Nearly half a century later the state fell victim to another huge inferno, when, in February 1898 a blaze ripped through the state's South Gippsland region, pictured here today.

The fires, which most affected the areas around Cranbourne, Neerim South, Poowong and Traralgon, incinerated 260,000 hectares (642,473 acres). They peaked on 1 February 1898, a day that has become known as Red Tuesday. Twelve people were killed and 2,000 buildings destroyed.

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Desperate to flee the flames, panicked residents sought refuge in the region's creeks and rivers. In addition to the human loss of life, thousands of sheep, cattle and pigs perished in the disaster, not to mention countless wildlife.

Victoria's Gippsland region was plagued by a succession of bushfires during February and March 1926. The infernos peaked on 14 February, which was labelled Black Sunday. On that calamitous Valentine's Day 31 people were killed in the country town of Warburton and the surrounding area.

Apart from Warburton, the areas devastated by the 1926 bushfires included Noojee, Kinglake, Erica and the Dandenong Ranges. A total of 400,000 hectares (988,421 acres) of forest was burned over the two-month period.

The fires reduced 1,000 buildings to ashes. Among the structures destroyed were the historic Thomson's Hotel and St. Mary's Church in Kinglake. The final death toll was recorded at 60 and as many as 700 people suffered injuries.

In early 1939 a number of bushfires, which were driven by high temperatures and strong northerly winds, raged through drought-stricken Victoria, cremating almost 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres). Around 75% of the state was affected.

The bushfires reached their peak on Friday, 13 January 1939 when the temperature in Melbourne climbed to 44.7°C (112°F) and humidity was perilously low. The damage the fires caused was absolutely catastrophic. "It appeared the whole state was alight that day” reported the Royal Commission which investigated the disaster.

On Black Friday alone 36 people were killed and the final death toll for the month of January hit 71. Thousands of sheep, cattle and horses died in the infernos. Several towns including Narbethong and Noojee were obliterated and hundreds of buildings were destroyed.

Numerous bushfires burned in western, central and southern Victoria from late December 1943 to mid-February 1944. The summer was blisteringly hot and one of the driest on record with northerly winds acting like a blowtorch on the parched landscape.

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The bushfires were all the more nightmarish given Victorians were coping with the hardships of the Second World War. On 22 December 1943 10 people were killed when hundreds of hectares were scorched in Wangaratta. The hellish fires continued into January affecting Gippsland and Beaumarais. This image shows a house in Beaumarais before it succumbed to the flames.

The death toll mounted and by the time the fires were quelled 51 people had lost their life, 700 were injured and 10,000 farm animals had died. All in all, scores of homes and 650 buildings were wiped out, and the town of Derrinallum was left in ruins.

Residents in Melbourne's newly constructed outer suburbs fled in terror in mid-January 1962 when out of control bushfires tore across the outskirts of Victoria's capital city. The fires had started in the Dandenong Ranges and spread rapidly.

Most were started by lightning strikes but two were caused by arsonists. The most severely affected areas included The Basin, Christmas Hills, Kinglake, St Andrews, Hurstbridge, Warrandyte, Mitcham and Ringwood.

The blazes resulted in the deaths of 32 people and destroyed 450 homes. This image shows the aftermath of the disaster in the Melbourne suburb of Ringwood where a viaduct had been severely damaged.

Tasmanians were left reeling on Tuesday, 7 February 1967 after 110 separate bushfires laid waste to vast swathes of land in the south of the island. Within just five hours, over 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) had been scorched.

The most catastrophic of the blazes was the Hobart Fire, which came dangerously close to the city's Central Business District (CBD). This image shows the city centre blanketed in acrid smoke. The fire killed 20 people in the metropolitan area and destroyed 432 homes.

Across southern Tasmania as a whole 62 people lost their lives and 900 were injured, while tens of thousands of farm animals perished. 1,293 homes were razed and the island's infrastructure was severely damaged with 80 bridges destroyed and miles of power lines down.

On 8 January 1969 a total of 280 bushfires broke out in Victoria, the most serious of which were a series of rapidly moving grass blazes that affected areas including Lara, Daylesford, Bulanga, Yea, Darraweit, Kangaroo Flat and as far north as Korong Vale.

These grass fires torched 250,000 hectares (617,763 acres) and obliterated 230 houses and 21 schools, churches and community halls. Tragically, 23 people died including 17 poor souls who made the fatal mistake of leaving their smoke-engulfed vehicles on the Melbourne-Geelong Expressway in Lara.

The motorists and passengers who opted to stay in their cars were able to escape the fire once the smoke had become less dense. Of the people who weren't so fortunate, eight perished at the scene, two died en route to the emergency department and seven passed away in hospital.

The horrendous bushfires that culminated on Ash Wednesday, 16 February 1983 claimed 47 lives in Victoria and resulted in the deaths of 28 people in South Australia. Parts of Victoria had been burning since the previous November and by the morning of Ash Wednesday 104 blazes were raging through the state.

Like the 1962 bushfires, the infernos torched Melbourne's outer suburbs, as well as more rural parts of Victoria. In South Australia, the fires were most intense in the Adelaide Hills, Clare Valley and the area around Mount Gambier. The conflagration reached its destructive worst in Victoria following a wind change.

The wind change fanned the flames and created an apocalyptic firestorm that was impossible to control. Aside from the human loss of life, tens of thousands of animals were killed. A total of 418,000 hectares (1 million acres) was torched along with 2,463 homes.

Black Saturday, 7 February 2009 has gone down in history as one of Australia's darkest days. Weather conditions in Victoria were extremely hot and dry with temperatures in Melbourne reaching 46°C (115°F). The heatwave was accompanied by gale-force winds that changed direction during the day.

These hazardous weather conditions combined to whip up the deadliest bushfires Australia has ever experienced. One resident likened the unpredictable infernos to the gates of hell. Around 400 major fires were burning or had been ignited that day, triggered in the most part by downed power lines, lightning and arson attacks.

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More than 78 communities were affected and towns including Marysville, Kinglake, Kinglake West, Narbethong, Flowerdale and Strathewen were virtually wiped off the map. The energy the blazes released was equivalent to 1,500 Hiroshima-like bombs exploding across the state. The fires, which burned 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) and destroyed 2,000 homes, resulted in the deaths of 180 people and killed one million animals.

After the 2009 inferno, new fire warnings were put in place to alert residents. The first time the new “catastrophic” warning was issued was during the unprecedented bushfires that threatened lives in Queensland and New South Wales during late-October and early-November 2019 and raged into 2020. By Christmas bushfires had burned around 1.6 million hectares (3.9 million acres) of land, the worst disaster in 25 years.

It wasn’t just the bush that was affected, residents in Sydney with asthma or lung complaints were advised to limit their time outdoors due to a cloak of pollution over the city caused by the fires. In early November, Sydney was among the world’s worst cities for poor air quality, ranking above Beijing, China. The fires came close to the northwestern outskirts including Hawkesbury and Gospers Mountain near Colo Heights.

The conflagration became known as the Black Summer bushfires and it took until March 2020 for the last of the fires to be extinguished. The consensus is that a combination of high temperatures, record-breaking low levels of rainfall during the preceding year and hot and dry westerly winds exacerbated the blazes. Over 93,822 square miles (243,000sq km) were burned, 479 lives directly and indirectly lost and over £1.92 billion ($AU 3.65 billion) caused in damage. 

Animals fell victim too. Ecologists from the University of Sydney estimated over one billion mammals, birds, and reptiles were lost with fears that entire species of plants and animals may have been wiped out. Look carefully at this haunting image and you'll see a kangaroo running for its life among the smoke at Colo Heights. 

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