News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 57

On the 26th January 1788, 11 ships carrying 1373 passengers, of which 732 were convicts, arrived at Port Jackson, now known as Sydney Harbour.

Captain of the first fleet, Arthur Phillip declared the settlement open.

The people on that fleet began the building of what we now know as, and live in……Australia. Each year celebrations are held around the country and traditionally it is the day when many people gain Australian citizenship at ceremonies around the nation.

Our community holds celebrations at the River Heads Community Hall with the raising of the flag, speeches by our local politicians and then the festivities begin.

All around the country traditions of pie and lamington eating competitions (eat as much as you can in set time), thong (flip flops as some know them) throwing, and the traditional BBQ.

Lots of beer is drunk leaving many sore heads the next day.

Different locations hold their own sources of entertainment. This year, the local Progress Association dedicated the day to the firefighters, so it was fitting that our First Officer got to raise the flag.

The brigade was given a Community Service Award and the proceeds of the raffle held went to our brigade.

Always a great day to celebrate our great nation.

Well Australia has been burning, in fact some areas still are experiencing large fires as some of the rains areas have been getting or havent fallen or been enough to extinguish.

But for places where the fires were in November last year here in Queensland at Woodgate, signs of life have now begun.

Our native vegetation is very heavily reliant on bushfire to regenerate. Plants like Eucalyptus, Banksias and grass trees are the first to spring back to life. They have serotinous cones (pods) or fruits that are completely sealed with resin..

The heat of the fire melts the resin allowing the seeds to become exposed. Some trees will reshoot others rely on seeds on the ground. Some rain helps but they will reshoot or grow without it.

The photos are of new growth just north of where I live (Woodgate) and although the fires were hot and wiped out just about everything, it didnt kill the plants.

In saying that a lot of species were burnt beyond any chance of recovering. Fire is also a great advantage to the pest vegetation too.

It helps to manage weeds, some of which, such as rubber vine, giant sensitive plant and prickly acacia were once treated with herbicides, biocontrol agents or mechanical treatments.

Fire kills them off as they do not like it. So among all the devastation and the losses, Mother Nature knows how to get over it and move on.

Well the fires continue to burn……..but……. some rain has started to fall in the last day or so and everyone is hoping that the wet stuff will land where the red stuff is.

Huge storm in Melbourne over night dumping lots of rain but it hasnt made it to Gippsland where the mega fire is still burning.

Some rain too over parts of NSW which has helped in slowing some fires down allowing firefighters to contain and hold them.

Today is supposed to see quite a lot of rain come in so now we wait and see if it falls where it is needed most.

Rain will be great but it does bring more problems with it.

Vegetation has been so dry for so long, the fires will have burnt trees which means trees will fall easily, so very dangerous for crews working to extinguish (mop up and black out) and roads could be affected as well as landslides as there is now no vegetation to hold the soil.

Amongst all the problems the Aussie Spirit prevails and weve seen some fantastic art work being put out in dedication to the firefighters, the international crews that have been deployed to assist and the unprecedented loss of wildlife throughout the country.

I have put a few of them in todays news.

Well sadly this week fires are still burning uncontrollably across Australia with little reprieve from the bad fire conditions. WA has had some good rain over the last couple of days through the central areas of the state from TC Blake.

Hopefully the rain will make its way further to the east to give some of SA a break. Kangaroo Island in SA has all but been wiped out by these fires. Kangaroo Island has lost a large percentage of its wildlife sadly.

The koalas on Kangaroo Island where the only population of koalas that were free from Chlamydia in Australia and they are now thought to be predominately wiped out.

Currently fires in NSW and Victoria are still raging and although some light rain fell over some parts of NSW the last couple of days it has had no impact in putting out the fires.

In fact its hampered firefighters efforts to get backburns put in before the weather turned bad again today (Friday). The fire burning on the NSW and Victorian border is expected to join and become a mega fire today and/or on Saturday.

Fires still burning through out the eastern seaboard of Queensland but thankfully it has quietened somewhere with brigades able to contain fires more easily at the moment.

As fires continue to rip through Australia, some devastating numbers are emerging: At least 24 people killed. More than 15.6 million acres burnt. Over 1,400 homes destroyed.

And, according to one biodiversity experts count, an estimated 1 billion animals killed.Finally though the monsoon rains look like they are kicking in around the northern part of Australia and the weather seems to finally be taking a more normal pattern for this time of year, and therefore bringing more rain…… a lot more than weve seen in the past 12 months.

If you are a praying person….. please pray that these rains kick in soon. Our firefighters are exhausted and the crews coming from Canada and the USA are a welcome addition to the firefighting efforts.

We thank them so much for giving up the time with their families (especially those who where here over Christmas/NY) to help out.

The eastern sea board of Australia is still in the grips of the worst fire season ever. Saturday is forecast to be horrendous and the biggest evacuation of people seen in Australia is happening today and tomorrow.(Thurs and Fri).

Just in NSW alone there have been 1298 homes lost, 442 homes damaged, 8790 homes saved.85 Facilities destroyed, 89 facilities damaged, 724 facilities saved. 2218 outbuildings destroyed,937 outbuildings damaged, 7401 outbuildings saved.

And those figures will rise as to lost and damaged as there are areas still not checked and more to come.

There has been 3 firefighters that have died, and several crews lucky to be alive.

Over 4 million hectares of land have been burnt so far. (Area size of Belgium)Sadly there has been at least 15 people that have died.

In Victoria there is 1 confirmed death and 17 people are still missing. Over 4000 people had to seek refuge on a beach as there was no other way out and the Navy is now evacuating those people by ship and air.

There has been over 50 homes lost in Malacoota alone. I dont have exact figures on the fires overall but the statistics will be high. There has been whole towns wiped from the map. Everything is gone.

Once good story is the staff at the Mogo Zoo stayed to defend the Zoo from the ember attack and spot fires and main fire front and they saved everything.

All the animals are fine but the town of Mogo is nothing more than ashes. There is no end to the record breaking temperatures or these fires stopping. Not the start to the New Year that many Aussies want or need. We need rain and more rain at the moment.