"It is daylight again, and the fire is past, and the black scrub silent and grim, except for the blaze of an old dead tree, or the crash of a falling limb; and the bushmen are riding again on the run with hearts and with eyes that fill, to look for the bodies of Dun, Flash Jim, and Boozing Bill."
This is how Henry Lawson, one of Australia' greatest writers and poets, described the bushfire in 1905.
Bushfires have been part of Australian life from time immemorial but the one of January 7, the latest in the state of Victoria, can only be described as the deadliest sweep of bushfires Australia has ever known, an extraordinary inferno that was driven by inner demons.
The death total: at least 210 with some 37 still missing, over 1,800 homes burnt and about 7,000 homeless.
It was indeed an extraordinary time on various fronts. As the country was transfixed by the unspeakable horror of the bushfires, the federal government was grappling with getting its $42 billion fiscal stimulus through the Senate. A package designed to starve off another looming national disaster, a recession brought on by the failure of the global financial system.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised to rebuild the fire-ravaged town brick by brick, street by street and the premier of Victoria, John Brumby, declared a national day of mourning on February 22 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne to honour the victims of the bushfires and to mark the courage of the fire-fighters and other emergency service workers. This provided an opportunity for Australians to grieve as the nation comes to terms with its worst natural disaster.
The koala named Sam found in the devastation in Gippsland has become Victoria's symbol of resilience and recovery. Country Fire Authority volunteer David Tree said: "I offered her a drink and she drank three bottles. The most amazing part was when she grabbed my hand. I will never forget that."
Now that the fires have subsided, the flames extinguished, the smoke has cleared and the rest of us go back to our normal lives, the rebuilding at Maysville, Narbethong, Kingslake, Strathewen, Churchill and others can begin.
What sheer terror the residents would have felt as walls of flames engulfed their picturesque country homes? I have not seen the devastation first hand but these fires have been described as "a whipping, roaring, jet engine blast of pure 1,000° heat and speed comes exploding out of the darkness, houses are simply cremated. Look one way and it's Vietnam after a napalm attack. Look the other and its Baghdad, or Beirut. Look down and it's Pompeii, just shards of pottery in the ancient dirt".
Both Mr Rudd and Mr Brumby have a great responsibility to see that these communities are back on their feet again as quickly as possible.
Victoria police commissioner Christine Nixon is leading a Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority while Olympic great miler and former Governor of Victoria, John Landy heads the Bushfires Appeal Fund Advisory Panel. Supreme Court Judge Bernard Teague chairs the Royal Commission with its interim findings expected before the next bushfire season.
The generosity of Australians, both locals and abroad, has been overwhelming.
Donations are rolling in. In the first week alone over $100 million were collected.
Deadly fires
Following is a history of fatal bushfires in Australia since 1967:
December 30, 2007 - Blaze killed three truckers on a highway near Coolgardie in western Australia.
January 2006 - Three died, and stock and property costing millions of dollar, lost in 10 days of bushfires in Victoria.
January 11, 2005 - Nine lives lost in south Australian Eyre Peninsula bushfires.
January 18, 2003 - Four people died and almost 500 homes razed in a massive firestorm in Canberra.
December 2002 - Two men died and more than 20 homes destroyed in bushfires in New South Wales.
December 2, 1998 - Bushfire claimed five fire-fighters' lives at Linton in Victoria.
December 2, 1997 - Two died in bushfires at Lithgow in NSW.
January 21, 1997 - Three people died and 33 homes destroyed in bushfires that ravaged the Dandenong Ranges on Melbourne's eastern outskirts.
January 1994 - Four died, 200 properties lost and several hundred people injured during bushfires in NSW.
February 16, 1983 - Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claimed 76 peoples' lives.
January 8, 1969 - 23 people died in grassfires in Victoria.
February 7, 1967 - Bushfires killed 59 people in southern Tasmania.