Causes And Effects Of The 2003 Canberra Bushfires

The 2003 Canberra bushfires started on the 8th of January after a dry thunder storm broke out and lighting strikes set ablaze to the outer regions of Canberra in the west near the Brindabella’s. They burnt for nine days, slowly increasing in size before Cyclone strength winds caused the fires to rapidly increase in size. This helped to push the fires to spread to the suburbs closer to the centre of Canberra. It claimed 164,914 hectares of land or about 70% of Canberra’s land mass. It took many homes, took four lives and injured many more. Many infrastructures and facilities were also claimed. About 90% of Namadgi National Park was burnt, mush of it was severely burnt. The fires caused severe damage to the Tidbinbilla Nature reserve, the Murrumbidgee

Fauna that were affected include the
Northern Corroboree Frog or Pseudophryne pengilleyi. The Northern Corroboree Frog’s habitat in the wetlands was severely affected. It’s habit consists of vegetation and is located in the Australian Alps above 750 metres. It likes to eat insects and bugs. Another animal affected by the bushfires is the Smokey mouse. It’s habitat of ridge tops, open forests and sub-alpine regions of up to 1800 metres was severely burnt. It eats seeds, fruits, flowers and some invertebrates. It also likes to eat grass trees or Xanthorrhoea spp. Another fauna that was around before the bushfires was the bush-tailed rock-wallaby or Petrogale penicillate. Its habitat of rocky escarpments, outcrops, cliffs, caves and ledges faced near extinction at the time of the fire. It eats vegetation in rocky areas, grasses, forbs, foliage and fruits of shrubs and trees. Another fauna that was severely affected by the bushfires was the
Spotted-tailed Quoll or Dasyuris maculatus. Its habitat of forests, woodlands, wet forests, rainforests, fallen logs, coastal heaths and rocky headlands were severely burnt by

Another fauna that was severely affected by the fires was the Broad- toothed rat or Mastacomys fuscus. It’s habitat consists of wet grass, sedge or heath environment and under the snow in winter was mostly burnt. Its diet consists of mostly greenery such as grass and sedge stems, seeds and moss spore cases are also consumed.
Another fauna that was affected by the fires were the platypus or Ornithorhynchus anatinus. Its habitat is restricted to streams and freshwater bodies. All platypus at
Tidbinbilla died following the fire. Its diet consists of annelid worms, freshwater shrimp, insect larvae, freshwater yabby. Arboreal mammals such as Possums, gliders and koalas’ habitats were also extremely affected. Many have not been seen in this area since. Eastern grey Kangaroo or Macropus giganteus is another faunae who was affected by the bushfires but recovered quickly unlike most other species. Its habitat consists of grasslands, woodlands, forests and scrublands. Their diet consists of grasses and herbs. Bridley nail- tailed wallaby or Onychogalea fraenata was another animal that was affected by the fires but recovered quickly. Its habitat consists of shrubland and grassy woodlands. It feeds