Victorian Fires

[trish251]

For all those in Victoria

I do hope you and yours keep safe. In such a land of contrasts this is so devasting

thinking of you

Trish

[johngirl]

I want to say the same thing as Trish.

In Tasmania we have been lucky so far. We all need rain in the drought areas of Australia.

   Johngirl

[trish1120]

Its absolutely crazy ,

Floods in Queensland
Bushfires and destruction in Victoria
Record temps in NSW tomorrow forecast
Drought elsewhere

Good luck to everyone , my thoughts are with you all.

Trish

[Minniej]

  Im glued to the news. So many family in those places.

im safe in tassie for now.  I hope there are no more losses

[deeiluka]

When I can't sleep, I listen to ABC News Radio.....it usually puts me back to sleep. Tonight it's been taken over to update the bushfire alerts and news for Victoria.

It's just so tragic and my heart goes out to all those affected, especially those who have lost loved ones in these dreadful fires.   


Also thinking of those being flooded out in northern Queensland, and hoping that there won't be loss of life there.......


Dee

[tropicalj]

I  woke to  hear of  the sheer tradegy in Victoria, as I  heard of  the horror of  the Victoria bushfires my heart just went out to those people.

I  have just seen an interview with a stoic older man  saying  its not  the loss of their  homes  they can be built again  but  the lives lost.  It was the second time he had lost a home to a bushfire.  How to you cope with that?

Extremes of the country  here we are in  the North of Queensland surrounded by endless rain.  Oh   to be able to send it south  it is moving slowy down  the coast  but all it will do  iss dump  tons of water  on allready soaked areas.  At my  home  the rain guage  has now  measured 627mls sinces  1st February, damn crazy.


I  reminded so much of  the words of 'Core of my Heart" ( or" I  love a Sunburnt Country")


The love of field and coppice,
  Of green and shaded Lanes,
  Of ordered woods and gardens,
  Is running in your veins;
  Strong love of grey-blue distance,
  Brown streams and soft, dim skies -
  I know but cannot share it,
  My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
  A land of sweeping plains,
  Of ragged mountain ranges,
  Of drought and flooding rains,
  I love her far horizons,
  I love her jewel sea,
  Her beauty and her terror -
  The wide brown land for me.

The tragic ring-barked forests
  Stark white beneath the moon,
  The sapphire-misted mountains,
  The hot gold hush of noon.
  Green tangle of the brushes
  Where lithe lianas coil,
  An orchids deck the tree-tops
  And ferns the crimson soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
  Her pitiless blue sky,
  When sick at heart around us
  We see the cattle die -
  But then the grey clouds gather
  And we can bless again
  The drumming of an army,
  The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
  Land of the Rainbow Gold,
  For flood and fire and famine,
  She pays us back threefold;
  Over the thirsty paddocks,
  Watch, after many days,
  The filmy veil of greenness
  That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
  A wilful, lavish land -
  All you who have not loved her,
  You will not understand -
  Though Earth holds many splendours,
  Wherever I may die,
  I know to what brown Country
  My homing thoughts will fly.

 
Please stay save and hug your loved ones

God Bless JEnn

[deeiluka]

Dorothy MacKellar's poem says it all, doesn't it Jenn?

[JAP]

I am taking the liberty of quoting a post from another list (birding) to which I belong - it's public so I believe that's acceptable.  I won't say much if anything about the loss of human life or the arsonists because it is all too unbearable.

'As you are doubtless aware, there have been incredibly ferocious bushfires in Victoria this weekend. Amongst other places, the townships of Marysville, Kinglake, Kinglake West and St Andrews have been wiped out. XXX lost her home an all possessions between St Andrews and Kinglake - and I know of others that have lost everything. There are also other people who live in the area that have not been able to be contacted. Marysville apparently has one building remaining. I'm unsure about the extent of damage to Kinglake and St Andrews, but after speaking to XXX who is still trapped in the township of Kinglake, they are "gone".

Vast areas of the Kinglake National Park and the Bunyip State Park have been devastated - presumably along with the wildlife, including birds, of those areas. I am currently unsure of the situation at Yellingbo (with its remaining population of wild Helmeted Honeyeaters) - let's just hope that the Bunyip fire and the Kinglake fire don't join up.

Healesville Sanctuary is closed today, not surprisingly. Apparently, their collections of Orange-bellied Parrots, Helmeted Honeyeaters and endangered mammals have been loaded onto vans and trucks for transport to Melbourne Zoo today. The road from Melbourne to Healesville is still open, but beyond Healesville it is closed.

Authorities are asking that people do not visit the fire-affected areas at this time and to keep off the roads to allow essential services access.'

These are all places of my youth but somehow the destruction of Marysville really hit home.  Fortunately it seems that no lives were lost there.  But such a beautiful little town - lush forests all around, and usually gets a sprinkling of snow in winter.  I wonder whether the fires extended into the nearby Cumberland Valley - home of the tallest Mountain Ash trees (Eucalyptus regnans which are second only in height to the tall Californian redwoods), and home of many of the shy Superb Lyrebirds (the only place I've closely watched - in the bush - those superb mimics with their beautiful tail display).

Many of the trees in these areas are ones which regenerated after the terrible 'Black Friday' bushfires in Victoria (Friday 13, 1939) when 71 lives were lost.

JAP

[kiwihalfpint]

We have been following this on TV all morning ..... my heart goes out to everyone who has lost everything and to the families who have lost loved ones.