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Yarra Glen Bushfire MemorialPrint Page Print this page

Sculpture 3 : 23-November-2015
Sculpture 3 : 23-November-2015

Photographs supplied by Sandra Brown
The Yarra Glen Bushfire Memorial was erected provide a space to come, to sit, to reflect, to consider the enormity of what the 2009 fires meant for the community, and to contemplate, as the art work depicts, how the community continues to move from the wounds and scars from that event to a place of new growth and fresh horizons. 

A glass and concrete sculptural triptych is the centerpiece of the memorial. The concrete-glass triptych projects the ferocity and awe inspiring force of the fire, the eerie stillness and emotional void after the fire passed and the first signs of regeneration which gives hope for a new start. 

The 2009 Victorian Bushfires brought devastation and destruction on a scale never before experienced in modern Australia. The “Black Saturday” firestorm claimed a harrowing 173 lives, destroyed over 1,800 homes and burned more than 400,000 hectares of regional Victoria’s landscape.

Location

Address:Melba Highway, McKenzie Reserve, Yarra Glen, 3775
State:VIC
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -37.656324
Long: 145.374248
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:Disaster
Sub-Theme:Fire
Artist:Ernest Fries
Monument Manufacturer:Ernest Fries
Link: http://www.rdv.vic.gov.au

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Monday 25th November, 2013
Inscription in Proximity
YARRA RANGES 
7th OF FEBRUARY 2009
TEMPERATURE 47 ° C

IN THE AFTERNOON STRONG NORTHERLY WINDS CARRIED EMBERS FROM THE KILMORE FIRE TO THE YARRA GLEN DISTRICT. BY 3.30pm SEVERAL FIRES HAD STARTED. A SOUTHERLY WIND CHANGE REDIRECTED THE FIRES, WHICH DEVELOPED INTO AN INFERNO. THIRTEEN LIVES WERE LOST, 340 DWELLINGS DESTROYED OR DAMAGED AND 48,289 HECTARES OF FOREST AND FARMLAND BURNT WITH COUNTLESS OUTBUILDINGS , LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE LOST. THREE DAYS OF HEROIC EFFORT BY THE EMERGENCY SERVICES AND MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY PREVENTED AN EVEN BIGGER CATASTROPHE. 


 
Source: MA, RDV
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au