Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

READER’S DIGEST

May• 2019 | 105

mortallydamagedafterthat.When
wegottothesiteofthepresent-day
arboretum,allwecoulddowastry
andsavetheCorkOakforest.”
Andsavethe100-year-oldforest
theydid.“We’dbeenfloggedallday.
Weneededonesmallwin.”
By3.30pm,thefirsthousesinDuffy
werelost.Eventually, nearly 500
homesacrossadozensuburbsand
ruralcommunitiesweredestroyed,
mostlocatednearthepineforests.
Thousandsofpeopleweredisplaced,
andfourpeoplediedtryingtosave
theirhomes.
By7pmthatnight,acoolwind
changeendedwhatmanydescribeas
Canberra’sworst-everbushfire.“It’s
hardtobelievewedidn’tloseany
firefightersthatday,”saysCooper,
whoisstillemotionally scarred by
the event today.

Initsaftermath, the challenge

wastorebuildagrief-stricken and

shatteredcommunity.

FOLLOWINGTHEBUSHFIRES,the

ACTGovernmentconsulted with

Canberransand town planning

expertsabouthowbesttousethe

largetractsofblackenedlandscape

thathadoncebeenleafypineplan-

tations.Laterthatyear,it wasdecided

todedicatethesitetoaninternation-

alarboretum.

Partoftheintentwastosymbol-

isethelocalcommunity’sprocessof

healingandrecovery.Thearboretum

alsoconnectedwitharchitectWalter

BurleyGriffin’soriginalplansand

landscapedesignsforthecity.

Anarboretum,pronounced‘arr-

boor-eetum’,isessentiallya botani-

cal garden devoted to growing trees

ExperiencedfirefighterandforestmanagerNeilCoopertoday;

the burnt-out shell of the historic observatory telescope