Firies the real 'Guardians of the Bush'

The ancient stand of Antarctic Beech and its protective rainforest barrier within the Mt Ballow complex withstood the October - December 2019 bushfire onslaught.

Two climbers have confirmed the survival of these rare mountain forests after trekking up Mowburra and Durramlee peaks during the Australia Day Long Weekend.

And Ben Barton from the Mt Barney Wilderness Camping Ground credits the unrelenting work of the firefighters with the saving of the rainforest stands.

Fantastic in their dedication

“The efforts by local firies were outstanding. They came from the Croftby-Carney’s Creek Primary Producer Brigade, the Rural Fire Brigades from Mt Alford and Kalbar and from other locations around the Fassifern and beyond,” Ben recalls.

“And our local National Parks crews were there as well as Parks crews from Gympie, Maleny, Kenilworth, Bribie Island, Mt Nebo, Daisy Hill and the Gold Coast.

“They were all fantastic in their dedication but it was the experience and great local knowledge of our local firies and Parks crews that was so valuable.

“There were the ‘unflappables’ like Glenn Fearby, Ken Harvey and Daryl Newlove.

“And Andy Dutton  from National Parks had the incident HQ located on Cleared Ridge [below Mt Barney] and directed the activities from there. He’s a very talented officer with a four-dimensional grasp of bushfires, and directed the water bombers at specific points to stop it crossing Barney Creek and onto Mt Barney proper. 

“It’s due to so many that the rainforest on ‘Old Man Ballow’ may have survived the onslaught, we’re certainly hopeful.”

It was the rural firefighting crews and the Parks crews that Ben described as … “the true Guardians of the Bush”.

The bushfire burnt through around 90 percent of Ben Barton’s property above the Cleared Ridge carpark and entry to the Upper Portals access to Mt Barney.

It began with a lightning strike on Double Peak above Burnett’s Creek on Thursday, October 17.

It would, over the next two months, become known as the Mt Barney National Park bushfire and burn through approximately 26,000 hectares of parkland and private property in Queensland and New South Wales. 

It burned through Ben’s property soon after it began.

Luck was on their side

“We were lucky in a lot of ways,” he said. 

“There was a light south easterly blowing and we didn’t have the raging firestorms during those days. It was the intense heat of a fire with lots of fuel that created the havoc more than anything.

“And the last of our bookings, a party of 80 from a Christian Men’s Group left the camping ground early on the Sunday and were shown by Justin O’Connell from Parks the best route to take to avoid the fire.”

That evening, the fire crews began arriving to fight the fire from a point below Ben’s camping ground.

“We may have been burnt out but there were still leaves in the canopy of trees above us and while we regularly heard the thundering of big trees falling in those days, most were saved,” Ben says. “There was no canopy fire here, no explosive firestorms.”

The news from the two climbers on their return from the trek up the nearby peaks … “made my heart glad” … said Ben.

“It’s a real miracle the way the fire didn’t get into the places it didn’t get into.

“There was a small incursion into one part of the Antarctic Beech forest but that appears to be all.

“It’s remarkable because even though the main front of the fire moved on, it left behind areas where the fire continued to burn at points all along the Mt Ballow complex.”

A sense of recovery

There is a patina of green across the Mt Barney Wilderness Camping Ground.

“There is a reshooting and a regrowing underway,” says Ben.

All that is missing now are the guests to enjoy the regeneration of the mountain bushland.

“We’ve had 160mm of rain since the fire went through and there is a real sense of recovery. We are even getting some visits from wildlife which is heartening.

“But we’ve had only one booking since the fire and there’s a few on the books for Easter but that’s it.”