2003 Bushfires archival collections

Archival Collections

Collections of records and papers created by individuals, groups and ACT Government business units documenting the experience of the 2003 Bushfires.

The ACT Heritage Library holds many collections and publications about the fires. Other material can be found at memory institutions in the ACT and NSW. Links are made to the locations of all items.

ACT Bushfire Support Unit Papers

2003-2006

On the 24 January 2003, the ACT Government announced the establishment of a Bushfire Recovery Taskforce to coordinate the government, community and business efforts to assist the victims of the disaster and the longer-term recovery of the ACT.

Available online and at the ACT Heritage Library.

Bushfire Recovery Centre Records

2003-2004

On Monday 28 January the ACT Recovery Centre opened in Lyons Primary School, after a week of frantic repairs to the disused Lyons Primary School. The Centre initially assisted people to find urgent accommodation, buy clothes and source identity papers, but rapidly became a one-stop shop for exchange of information, a place for donations of clothes and toys, and for regular afternoon teas and counselling support.

Available at the ACT Heritage Library.

Canberra Alpine Club Records

circa 1930-2005

Records of the Club including digital copies of 175 images created or retained by the Canberra Alpine Club ca. 1930-2005. The scanning of the images was supported by ACT Heritage Grants and include photographic documentation of the devastation of the Mt Franklin chalet and it surrounds by the 2003 bushfire

Available at the ACT Heritage Library.

Jeff Cutting Papers

8-30 January 2003

956 photographs by Jeff Cutting. Jeff was a photographer with long membership of volunteer bushfire brigades and an interest in bushfire photography. Anticipating the crisis, he began photographing fuel loads and weather on 8 January, continuing to documenting the developing emergency until 30 January.

Available online and at the ACT Heritage Library.

Sarah Sowry 2003 Bushfires Diary

16-20 January 2003

A project by a primary school student in the form of a diary from 16 January - 20 January 2003.  It concentrates on the experience of the bushfires of a girl living in Curtin, 2003.

Available at the ACT Heritage Library.

Wrap Up Canberra Records

2003-2011

A group of friends co-ordinated the creation of rugs to support Canberrans who lost their homes in the January 18 fire. Contributions of knitted squares were donated locally and internationally. The completed rugs were exhibited at Parliament House, Canberra and later distributed through the ACT Bushfire Recovery Centre.

Available at the ACT Heritage Library.

Our community remembers

21 January - 1 February 2003

From January 21 until February 1 2003, Caroline Fletcher, who lived in Duffy, one of the worst affected suburbs, along with Jill Burdon and Chloe Pape sat at the local regional shopping centre, Cooleman Court and gathered personal accounts of the fires. Some contributors were prepared to identify themselves, others preferred to remain anonymous. The women rostered took notes of conversations and comments and accepted written contributions.

Available at the ACT Heritage Library.

Bibaringa homestead photographs

1 December 2002 - 20 January 2003

Bibaringa Homestead is an agistment services property located at 118 Cotter Road, Stromlo. Canberra resident Roz Hodsdon held horses at Bibaringa Homestead for 9 years. The collection is mostly photographs post the 2003 Canberra bushfires.

Available online and at the ACT Heritage Library.

Keira Bulbs 2003 Bushfire Photographs

12 January 2003

Graham and Helen Fleming, owners of Keira Bulbs in Pialligo took photographs from Pialligo looking west to the Brindabella Ranges on Sunday 12 January 2003. The photographs show the smoke and haze from the fires visible in Canberra over a week before the fires entered Canberra suburbs.

Available online and at the ACT Heritage Library.

Mt Stromlo Observatory, the Aftermath

23 January 2003 - 30 April 2003

On 23 January 2003 members of Mt Stromlo staff were taken through the ruins of Mt Stromlo. Most of these photographs were taken by Denise and Ralph on 23 January; the last five were taken on a later visit, after the external debris had been removed and the site made secure.

Available online and at the ACT Heritage Library.

Newell-Sutherland Mount Stromlo photographs

30 August 1965 - 23 January 2003

Photographs of life at Mt Stromlo. Astrophysicist Barry Newell was Administrator of Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories of the Australian National University. The family lived first at house no. 3, which subsequently survived the 2003 bushfire, then from about 1984 to 1991 at house no. 9. This house was removed by the ANU in the late 1990s.

Available online and at the ACT Heritage Library.

Patricia Frei Photographs

2003

Includes a compact of digital and digitised images the areas affected by the 2003 Bushfire in Weston Creek, the Orroral Valley, Tidbinbilla, Duffy, Mount Stromlo, Chapman, Cooleman Farm, Coppins Crossing, Cotter River, Molonglo River before and after the January 18 2003 firestorm. Trish and her husband Helmut live on Eucumbembe Drive, Duffy, the first street to be devastated by the fires.

Available at the ACT Heritage Library.

David Haworth photographs

January 2004

In January 2004, Sydney heritage photographer David Haworth drove the loop from Mt Stromlo, the Cotter Road around to Tidbinbilla documenting the post 2003 bushfire regrowth.

Currently unavailable.

Available at the ACT Heritage Library.

Bushfires and beyond

2003

In September-October 2003, the National Library of Australia, with the ACT Bushfire Recovery Centre, coordinated a poetry and short story competition for school children from lower primary to college.

Available at National Library of Australia.

Alan Catford papers

1947-2010

Alan Catford's activities in the environmental conservation movement. It includes a file on the Kosciuszko Fires 2003

Available at the State Library of NSW.

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