Still Smouldering: reflections on the symposium

Ten years after the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009, Victorians are pausing to reflect on the fires and its continuing presence in our lives and the environment. On Friday 1 February, La Trobe University hosted a one day symposium, Still Smouldering? Black Saturday, Ten Years On. Jointly hosted by the Centre for the Study of the Inland and the Research Focus Area Transforming Human Societies, the symposium brought together survivors, researchers, commentators and community members to discuss the fires and their aftermath.  

The day commenced with Prof Stephen Pyne, Arizona State University, providing a thorough overview and insight into the fire history of the United States of America. He artfully illustrated society’s evolving management, understanding, and relationship with fire, the polarisation of fire, politics and forestry, and the increasing challenge and prevalence of fires within the ‘urban-bush’. The American focus offered the audience a big picture view of humanity’s history with fire and presented parallels and points of comparison between America and Australia before we turned our attention to Australia and specifically to Black Saturday and its aftermath.  

The following panel ‘Black Saturday: Surviving, Recovering, Remembering’ featured the stories of two survivors, Elizabeth Savage Kooroonya and Andrew Barr, alongside the reflections of Moira Fahy and Prof Tom Griffiths and their work on the aftermath of the fires. The stories of the survivors were a sobering reminder of the lived experience of the fire in all its complexities. The tension and suspense in the room as we listened to these stories of the fires was palpable. It pushed the human experiences of the fires to the forefront of our minds throughout the following discussions of fire research and policy.  

We turned to considering ‘Media, Trauma and Climate Disaster’ in the following panel with Dr Denis Muller, Dr Cait McMahon and Dr David Holmes, which discussed the role of journalism and reporting during and after Black Saturday. This was complemented by the final panel on ‘Climate Change and Fire’, which deepened the discussions relating to climate, ecology, prescribed burning and human responses to and perceptions of risk and fire. Dr Claire Yeo and Prof Mike Clarke spoke along with Bushfire Natural Hazards CRC researchers CEO Dr Richard Thornton, former Bushfire CRC researcher Assoc Prof Jim McLennan, and associate PhD student Daniel May.  

This symposium presented an admirable balance between the perspectives of survivors, community members and researchers, and between the sciences and the humanities. I have attended other bushfire events and conferences where the only voices heard and perspectives shared belonged to the ‘sciences’. At one particular event attendees spoke about the need for greater community consultation, community resilience and the importance of listening to the community, but these same people were absent from the room during the only panel discussion focused specifically on community and the only panel (with one exception) where women spoke. Such occurrences made me question who is able to speak and participate in discussions about our understanding of fire and contribute to bushfire research. Was it only for those in the sciences or ‘physical paradigm’ of disaster and fire studies or emergency management (or those who wore the unofficial uniform of light blue collared shirts) to participate? Or was there room for other perspectives, disciplines, questions and stories.  

It was therefore refreshing and encouraging that at Still Smouldering a diverse range of disciplinary perspectives were voiced and listened to. We heard both statistics and stories. The symposium recognised the value of multiple perspectives, the benefits of listening to each other and the important contribution humanities research can make to these discussions.  

We need multiple fronts to fire research. In addition to studies of bushfire prevention, management, communication and response, and research that investigates the ecological impact of fire and prescribed burning, we need research that captures the human reaction and response to bushfire and the value of these stories to individuals, community’s and society. During this moment of reflection it is timely to consider how we remember (and forget) bushfires and what stories we tell and bring with us into our future with fire. The symposium Still Smouldering illustrated how a balanced approach, encompassing multiple perspectives and disciplinary contributions can develop a deeper more nuanced understanding of fire and our relationship with fire in our past, our present and our future.