Learning to Love Where We Live Again: Children's Wildfire Education for Community Recovery and Resilience

On Feburary 7^th 2009, a major bushfire devastated the small town of Strathewen in south-eastern Australia. The fire destroyed the primary school, the community hall, and most of the houses in the area. Twenty-seven of the town’s 200 residents lost their lives. Eight years on, the primary school has been rebuilt and the senior students are participating in a place-based, experiential, student-led bushfire education program. Throughout this program, the students develop knowledge and skills for assessing local bushfire risks, investigate actions for reducing those risks and lead creative arts-based projects that centre on the development of locally relevant bushfire education materials for their community. Then, as the bushfire season approaches, they share their knowledge, skills and arts-based projects with their families, friends and the wider community at a public presentation evening at the new community hall.

This paper will present the findings of an in-depth qualitative case study that was conducted as the first cohort of students approached the end of their time in the program. Drawing on interviews with students, parents, teachers, fire brigade volunteers and other community members, the paper will explore the various ways the program has supported recovery, reduced risk and increased resilience amongst children and their families. It will then identify the key mechanisms and processes that have contributed to these positive outcomes and reflect on some of the key challenges associated with providing quality bushfire education in a post-disaster context. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the need for continued theory development and further research in the township of Strathewen and in other communities that are recovering from disaster.