After the fire swept through his farm and destroyed
his hatchery, Mitch McRae surveys the devastation.
Note the green shoots from the rains that finally
extinguished the conflagration
Victorian Trout sector:
BUSHFIRE RECOVERY
BY JOHN MOSIG
lack Saturday 2009 was a day that the state of Victoria
wished had never happened. After two months of next
to no rainfall and searing temperatures, February 7,
2012 peaked at 46 degrees celsius with 100km nor-westerly
winds. With over 400 ���res reported on the day, the whole
state seemed to be alight. Towards evening a strong sou-
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
westerly change swept in. The gale force winds got behind
the eastern ���ank of the ���re creating a huge front that
engulfed towns that had previously escaped the inferno.
173 people lost their lives, 414 were injured, 78 townships
were affected, more than 2000 homes and 3500 farm sheds
and other structures, and countless livestock were destroyed,
and nearly 8000 people were displaced. The Victorian trout
industry is right in the middle of this con���agration. Four of
the 10 farms were wiped out.
Visiting the region recently, the changes were noticeable.
The ���res coincided with the breaking of a 14-year drought
and the change in the vegetation and water quality was
strikingly noticeable. The Australian bush has been moulded
by the powerful boom or bust forces of the El Ni��o/La Ni��a
weather patterns, and has a natural resilience to the ravages
of ���re. Although the skeletons of many tall trees were starkly
noticeable along the ridges, the understorey was lush with
new growth and the streams were clear of ash and silt.
Mitch and Debbie McRae have farmed trout and salmon
on the Steavenson River at Buxton since 1988. Mitch spoke of
how humbling the spirit of the people had been. People who
had lost everything were there at the farm the day after helping
him bury 35 tonnes of dead ���sh. Growers, who were in effect
his competitors, made seedstock available.���You read about these
things in the news and think, oh yeah, poor buggers, but you get
