Prospect Hill: Memories of a Burned Village

The small South Australian community of Prospect Hill is defined by the passion of its inhabitants for their heritage. This book tells the personal histories of people from this community. The stories that lie at the heart of this book recall a major fire event that seared through the lives of the people in this small South Australian town over three decades ago: the now infamous ‘Ash Wednesday’ bushfires that erupted in the 16th February 1983. Memories of the 1983 disaster still resonate in the lives of the inhabitants of Prospect Hill, highlighting what they lost and what they saved, and their responses to the disruptions that fire wrought to the landscape, animal life, households and lives. Since the Ash Wednesday bush fires the community has found refuge in their heritage and rebuilt their lives. Their stories are important for every Australian because they show that the ordinary histories of ordinary townships contain extraordinary stories.