After bushfire - resilience at Wheoh in the Warrumbungles

Wheoh stories over 40 years repainted - original version burnt in 2013 bushfire

Wheoh is one of the territorial calls of the ever-vigilant currawong; an eponymous energy flowing through the remote Warrumbungle mountains in Australia's north-western N.S.W.

Most recent video: 'blue sky' (3:25 mins) November 2024

On Sunday, 12th January 2013, a bushfire (named Wambelong) escaped from the Warrumbungle National Park. It swept through Wheoh, killing wildlife, burning the canopy, and the 38 year old hand-made house built on a small sandstone rise among scribbly gums (E. rossii). The event is most eloquently expressed by my daughter, Bonnie, In Memoriam (15th January 2013) and The Lonely Bones (19th January 2013).

Our family, as well as ocassional visitors, were accustomed to recording their observations in hand-written journals (dating back to 1975). The volume covering the years 2011-2013 was lost in the fire as well as a memory painting (repainted above). In July 2013, the process of rebuilding began. This, more fire-proof, publicly accessible repository, consists of an ongoing series of 3 minute 25 second videos (with occasional written posts) in an attempt to capture the resilience of a fire ecology. It is intended to delight anyone attracted to the serenity of reclusion, and the process of making things out of what comes to hand. If there is a guiding principle: it is a sense of gratitude that nothing lasts, is finished, or is perfect.

Time passes. For me Wheoh continues to be a place of enchantment. Thoughts on my own sense of belonging are here: In Place and also in The Story of the Stone. Global Warming is changing the landscape. In 2019, drought records were broken with a mere 167.6 mm annual rainfall (average 600 mm). See 134 years of data 1886-2020.

Twelve years of 3 minute rebuilding videos

1. Blue sky (3:25 mins) November 2024
2. Out of the ground (3:25 mins) July 2024
3. Pottering (3:25 mins) May 2024
4. A mountain shrine (3:25 mins) November 2023
5. Ash (3:25 mins) August 2023
6. Highlanders (3:25 mins) April 2023
7. Consolidation (3:25 mins) March 2023
8. Shedding (3:25 mins) February 2023
9. A shed of one's own #4 (3:25 mins) December 2022
10. A shed of one's own #3 (3:25 mins) October 2022
11. A shed of one's own #2 (3:25 mins) September 2022
12. A shed of one's own (3:25 mins) July 2022
13. Steps (3:25 mins) April 2022
14. Visits (3:25 mins) November - December 2021
15. Space in place (3:25 mins) August 2021
16. Ideas (3:25 mins) July 2021
17. Rain and rats (3:25 mins) March 2021
18. Vale Peter Thompson (3:25 mins) December 2020
19. Metal work (3:25 mins) June 2020
20. Self-isolating (3:25 mins) March 2020
21. Jack's ironbark bed (3:25 mins) December 2019
22. Framing up a making place (3:25 mins) September 2019
23. Sights and sounds (3:25 mins) July 2019
24. Pouring a slab (3:25 mins) May 2019
25. Stainless tank with Jim and Tao (3:25 mins) March 2019
26. Falling aquifers and tanks (3:25 mins) December 2018
27. Drought - water for wildlife (3:25 mins) September 2018
28. Bed with kurrajong coffee (3:25 mins) May 2018
29. Hopes & dreams (3:25 mins) January 2018
30. Walls and fences (3:25 mins) November 2017
31. Track making (3:25 mins) August 2017
32. Walling and painting (3:25 mins) May 2017
33. Termites and bookshelves (3:25 mins) April 2017
34. Doors and drawers (3:25 mins) March 2017
35. Rain, mist and a day bed (3:25 mins) September 2016
36. Composting toilet (3:25 mins) April 2016
37. Bookshelves and columns (3:25 mins) February 2016
38. Spring tank and steps (3:25 mins) August 2015
39. House Warming (3:25 mins) May 2015
40. Family Easter (3:25 mins) April 2015
41. Mixing bowl basin (3:25 mins) March 2015
42. Water tank (3:23 mins) 4th February 2015
43. Ends and edges (3:25 mins) 27th December 2014
44. Verandah (3:23 mins) 30th September 2014
45. Timor Valley community declares itself Gasfield Free (3:36 mins) 17th September 2014
46. How to make a wood-fired oven with a hot water system (collated guide) (3:25 mins) 5th August 2014
47. Shelter before snow (3:24 mins) 29th July 2014
48. Wallaroos released into the Warrumbungle wilds (3:26 mins) 18th June 2014
49. Windows and doors (3:25 mins) 30th May 2014
50. Father and son (3:26 mins) 30th April 2014
51. Workshop-studio (3:25 mins) 30th March 2014
52. Confederacy of birds (3:25 mins) 13th February 2014
53. Drought and heat (3:25 mins) 30th January 2014
54. Oven warming (3:25 mins) 15th December 2013
55. Oven dome (3:27 mins) 18th November 2013
56. Oven base (3:25 mins) November 2013
57. Stone wall (3:25 mins) October 2013
58. Spring resilience (3:20 mins) September 2013
59. Settling in (3:25 mins) August 2013
60. Arriving (3:21 mins) August 2013
61. Never take a tap for granted (3:16 mins) April 2013
62. Burnt out by bush fire (3:25 mins) January 2013
63. Wheoh dawn before the fire (3:24 mins) November 2012
64. Replacing the top casement window (3:51 mins) April 2012

Links to written pieces

1. Bushfire-ravaged communities take future into own hands - 28th January 2020 [published in Independent Australia (IA)]
2. In Place 21st September 2018 [published in Dark Sky Dreamings ed. Merrill Findlay 2019]
3. How Barnaby Joyce contaminates my drinking water - 12th February 2018 [published in Independent Australia (IA)]
4. Anniversary 12 months - 12th January 2014
5. oven base (26th September - 8th November 2013)
6. workshop (6th - 26th September 2013)
7. level (27th August 2013 - 6th September 2013)
8. mail box (22th - 27th August 2013)
9. shelter and stillness (12th - 22nd August 2013)
10. arriving (5th - 12th August 2013)

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