‘Never forget’: Ash Wednesday South-East victims remembered at Kalangadoo memorial service

Forty years ago, SA’s worst bushfires ripped through the Adelaide Hills and South-East and claimed the lives of 28 people. One small town was hit harder than most.

Wreaths were laid in honour of the 10 lives lost in the Kalangadoo district during the Ash Wednesday bushfire. Picture: Arj Ganesan

Members of the Kalangadoo community came out in force on Thursday with more than 100 people turning out for the 40th anniversary of the Ash Wednesday bushfires.

The inferno claimed 14 lives in the South-East that day, including 10 from the small township of Kalangadoo.

Some attendees were reduced to tears during the sombre ceremony, led by Howard Young.

Nick Rogers, who laid a wreath for his uncle Martin Rogers and who also lost his cousin Gavin Rogers, said he’d “never forget” the fires.

Aged just 10 at the time, Mr Rogers recalled the panic at attempting to contact his sister who went to school in Mount Gambier to “tell her not to come back on the bus” as phone lines came down.

Attendees at the Kalangadoo Ash Wednesday memorial service were reduced to tears during the sombre ceremony led by Howard Young. Picture: Arj Ganesan

“Nobody knew where anyone was — we didn’t know where our father was,” he said.

“It went from day to night. Within seconds it was sort of was quite smoking cloudy and then it just went pitch black.”

CFS Wattle Range group officer Fred Stent was “overwhelmed” at the Kalangadoo memorial service turnout.

“I wasn’t expecting this magnitude, it’s really good to see and I’ve met some people that I haven’t seen for years and years,” he said.

Members of the Kalangadoo Football Club. Picture: Arj Ganesan

Mr Stent was just 27 when he went to battle the blaze as part of the Woods and Forest Brigade, a government led pine forestry brigade.

Mr Stent said the crew was “lucky to survive” after getting trapped in a fireball that engulfed their truck.

“We were driving through this alleyway all of a sudden the whole outside went infra-red on us. Trees just went red,” he said.

“If we were outside we wouldn’t be here today.”

CFS Wattle Range group officer Fred Stent. Picture: Arj Ganesan

Images of that horrific day will never leave Mr Stent, whose crew happened to see the charred remains off some of the people who lost their lives.

Crews were forced to have “tunnel vision” so they could “get on with the job” and protect their community, Mr Stent said.

Mr Stent has been with CFS since he was 11 and helped organise the recovery of Louise Hincks who tragically passed away in 2022 while fighting the Naracoorte Lucindale fires.

The Kalangadoo CFS brigade are recent recipients of the CFS’ latest appliance.

“That is the most up-to-date truck in South Australia — it’s full of safety features,” Mr Stent said.

“It's a really great unit — all we’re waiting for now is for the (Kalangadoo brigade) to get their new station and that’s been in the pipeline — it is due to be built, hopefully this year.”