Urban settlement and natural hazard: a case study of the Adelaide Hills, South Australia

Abstract

The Adelaide Hills, part of the Mt Lofty Ranges, east of the city of Adelaide, South Australia form the western end of a crescent of similar environments which extend around the coastline of Australia from Brisbane in Queensland. Adelaide represents one of the most fire hazardous regions of the world. unlike the eastern states, the Adelaide region enjoys a Mediterranean climate but the Adelaide Hills are on the whole, cooler and wetter than the Adelaide Plains. The Hills however, share dry sclerophyll vegetation, and its affinity for fire, with the eastern states. Bushfires occur almost every year somewhere in the Adelaide Hills. Cyclical patterns of 10, 13, 15 and 20 years have been suggested (Kerr, n d), but Luke and McArthur (1978) state that five years in every 10 will produce serious fires. In the past fires have caused serious damage to farmlands, orchards and stock. More recently, due to urban expansion, an increasing number of houses has been threat- The Bureau of Meteorology (1956) listed South Australian 'newsworthy' fires, many of which might otherwise have been forgotten, but an up-to-date history of local fires does not appear to have been compiled. The most impor- tant fires in recent time are those of 1939, 1955, 1980 and 1983.