After bushfire - resilience at Wheoh in the Warrumbungles

Most recent video: Ash (3:25 mins) August 2023

On Sunday, 12th January 2013, a bushfire (named Wambelong) escaped from the Warrumbungle National Park. It swept through Wheoh, burning the canopy, killing wildlife and raising the 36 year old hand-made house built on a small sandstone rise among scribbly gums (E. rossii). The impact on our family and Wheoh 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, resilience 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.

Wheoh is a place of enchantment. Here are thoughts on my own sense of belonging In Place and 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.

Ten years of 3 minute rebuilding videos

Ash (3:25 mins) August 2023
Highlanders (3:25 mins) April 2023
Consolidation (3:25 mins) March 2023
Shedding (3:25 mins) February 2023
A shed of one's own #4 (3:25 mins) December 2022
A shed of one's own #3 (3:25 mins) October 2022
A shed of one's own #2 (3:25 mins) September 2022
A shed of one's own (3:25 mins) July 2022
Steps (3:25 mins) April 2022
Visits (3:25 mins) November - December 2021
Space in place (3:25 mins) August 2021
Ideas (3:25 mins) July 2021
Rain and rats (3:25 mins) March 2021
Vale Peter Thompson (3:25 mins) December 2020
Metal work (3:25 mins) June 2020
Self-isolating (3:25 mins) March 2020
Jack's ironbark bed (3:25 mins) December 2019
Framing up a making place (3:25 mins) September 2019
Sights and sounds (3:25 mins) July 2019
Pouring a slab (3:25 mins) May 2019
Stainless tank with Jim and Tao (3:25 mins) March 2019
Falling aquifers and tanks (3:25 mins) December 2018
Drought - water for wildlife (3:25 mins) September 2018
Bed with kurrajong coffee (3:25 mins) May 2018
Hopes & dreams (3:25 mins) January 2018
Walls and fences (3:25 mins) November 2017
Track making (3:25 mins) August 2017
Walling and painting (3:25 mins) May 2017
Termites and bookshelves (3:25 mins) April 2017
Doors and drawers (3:25 mins) March 2017
Rain, mist and a day bed (3:25 mins) September 2016
Composting toilet (3:25 mins) April 2016
Bookshelves and columns (3:25 mins) February 2016
Spring tank and steps (3:25 mins) August 2015
House Warming (3:25 mins) May 2015
Family Easter (3:25 mins) April 2015
Mixing bowl basin (3:25 mins) March 2015
Water tank (3:23 mins) 4th February 2015
Ends and edges (3:25 mins) 27th December 2014
Verandah (3:23 mins) 30th September 2014
Timor Valley community declares itself Gasfield Free (3:36 mins) 17th September 2014
How to make a wood-fired oven with a hot water system (collated guide) (3:25 mins) 5th August 2014
Shelter before snow (3:24 mins) 29th July 2014
Wallaroos released into the Warrumbungle wilds (3:26 mins) 18th June 2014
Windows and doors (3:25 mins) 30th May 2014
Father and son (3:26 mins) 30th April 2014
Workshop-studio (3:25 mins) 30th March 2014
Confederacy of birds (3:25 mins) 13th February 2014
Drought and heat (3:25 mins) 30th January 2014
Oven warming (3:25 mins) 15th December 2013
Oven dome (3:27 mins) 18th November 2013
Oven base (3:25 mins) November 2013
Stone wall (3:25 mins) October 2013
Spring resilience (3:20 mins) September 2013
Settling in (3:25 mins) August 2013
Arriving (3:21 mins) August 2013
Never take a tap for granted (3:16 mins) April 2013
Burnt out by bush fire (3:25 mins) January 2013
Wheoh dawn before the fire (3:24 mins) November 2012
Replacing the top casement window (3:51 mins) April 2012

Links to written pieces

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