Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Smoke from fires, looking east, Great Western Highway, Woodford

Smoke from fires, looking east, Great Western Highway, Woodford

3 January 2002
PXE 872 / 15
Silver gelatin photoprint

Perth-born photojournalist, Philip Gostelow, and his family were living in Woodford, New South Wales, when the Christmas 2001-02 bushfires erupted in the Blue Mountains.

Gostelow captured his experience of the catastrophe in a series of 11 black and white photographs titled ‘Christmas bushfires, lower Blue Mountains, 2001-2002.’ The series successfully juxtaposes the playful atmosphere of the Christmas holidays with the tragedy of the destructive fires.

This image is the second in the series, and depicts a billow of smoke coming from the east towards Woodford.

The 2001-2002 bushfires were known as the Black Christmas fires as the outbreak began on Christmas Eve.

The 2001-2002 bushfires caused a plume of smoke to hang over Sydney, resulting in some of the worst pollution levels ever recorded in the city.

The Skycrane helicopter known as ‘Elvis’ was used for the first time in New South Wales during the 2001-02 Blue Mountains bushfires.  The water-bomber ‘Elvis’ can hold 9,500 litres of water or foam mix, and has proved to be instrumental in the ability to fight hazardous bushfires in Australia.

The 2001-2002 bushfires marked the beginning of the ‘Millennium Drought’, a climate event that was finally declared over in 2012. 

On 29 November 2000, the ‘Greater Blue Mountains’ was declared Australia’s 14th World Heritage Area.  This expansive region of New South Wales covers just over one million hectares of bushland and wilderness.