A Time sequence record of the Ash Wednesday fires using news reports as broadcast during the emergency

Australia, 1983

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A Channel 10 Production on Wednesday 16th 1983 of the Ash Wednesday Bushfires opening with David Johnston on location in the Dandenong Ranges. The report also includes the fires around Adelaide in South Australia with 5DN journalist Murray Nicoll reporting on the situation including the destruction of his own home. Victoria and South Australia suffered extensive damage and loss during the Ash Wednesday Fires which claimed the lives of 75 people, 13 of these were firemen. The devastating fires also claimed 264,000 sheep, 16,690 cattle and 2031 homes.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

production company

Channel 10 Melbourne

Duration

00:34:02:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1983

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

311243

Language

English

Subject categories

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television broadcasting of news

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Fire

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Fire fighters

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Forest fires

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Forest fires - Victoria

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Natural disasters

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Natural history

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Wildfires

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Wildfires - Australia

Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Fire fighters

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Fire fighters

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Fires - Casualties

Television

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/88655--a-time-sequence-record-of-the-ash-wednesday-fires-using-news-reports-as-broadcast-during-the-emergency/ |title=A Time sequence record of the Ash Wednesday fires using news reports as broadcast during the emergency |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=3 July 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}