Ash Wednesday MemorialPrint Page

The 10 metre high stained glass window titled 'From the Fire', depicts the devastation and loss of life caused by the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 and the later regeneration and new life.

The summer of 1983 was one of the hottest and driest on record. After more than ten months of drought, a scorching heatwave primed South Australia and Victoria's west coast for fire. On February 16, a series of fires ignited across the country from the Adelaide Hills to east of Melbourne. Smoke and flames billowed over Victoria's Great Ocean Road - a hazardous stretch even in clear conditions.  

Most of Macedon and much of historic Mount Macedon to the north west of Melbourne was razed, including many heritage listed 19th century mansions and famed gardens. Escape was treacherous. Hundreds sought shelter on the beaches. Some 2,300 houses were destroyed and more than 300,000 hectares of land blackened. In South Australia, 28 lives were lost, in Victoria, 47. The Ash Wednesday bushfires were the deadliest on record until February 2009 when 173 people perished on Black Saturday. 

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