Black Summer - Siege

2019 - 2020

Yuin Country / Wyndham, NSW

A Bushfire Story

From December 2019 to February 2020, Yuin Country / Wyndham, NSW, endured a siege by bushfire.

It started with the Myrtle Mountain Road Fire, from the east, in late December 2019.

Then the Border Fire from the south. Then the Border Fire, again, four days later. The Border Fire was labelled a “Campaign Fire”, one that would keep burning for weeks, a constant threat.

But the Border Fire isn’t what hit is.

In the west, due to lightning strikes, the Big Jack Mountain and Postmans Trail Fires were born.

In terrible, windy, hot conditions, these fires got moving west before merging and finally reaching Wyndham village.

The combined Big Jack Mountain/Postmans Trail Fires were held by the RFS on the western outskirts of the village but veered into, through and beyond Devils Hole and, finally, across Myrtle Mountain Road.

Black Summer concluded almost exactly where it began, leaving Wyndham and its surrounding communities under siege