Australian Wildfires Affect SCA Event

Submitted by Milica on Mon, 2003-01-20 18:04
The Le Crapaud Tourney scheduled for Saturday in Eddison Park, Woden, ACT was cancelled due to wildfires burning near the capital of Canberra. In a message posted on the Lochac list, Lord Dickin Shorthand reported that an event has been cancelled and that other people are preparing to protect their homes from the fires. Many places in the area are without power or internet connectivity.

There have been four deaths from the fires and many homes have already been lost. By all reports, SCA members living in the area are fine, although some have lost property or have had to move animals to safer areas. Several Lochac members are known to be actively fighting the fires. Residents hope for rain soon.

The historic Mount Stromlo Observatory, near Canberra, has been

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 1969-12-31 20:00.
The famous Mount Stromlo Observatory appears to have been destroyed, and several large telescopes are now themselves history, along with some state-of-the-art sensors that were being constructed in the observatory workshops for use with very large telescopes in both hemispheres.

I am glad to know that there were no deaths or (IIRC) injuries, and that all staff were evacuated successfully, though many buildings were burned.

I owe a debt of thanks to Zebee Johnstone for her post to rec.org.sca about this disaster.

http://www.google.com has proved useful for gleaning information.

Michael Fenwick of Fotheringhay, Barony of Namron, Ansteorra (mikea@mikea.ath.cx)