The terrifying truth facing Mackay's landowners

The hot and dry conditions of late 2018 were unbearable. For weeks we had spot fires burning on the mountains surrounding our farm, writes Michelle Ready.

BY MICHELLE READY, Finch Hatton landowner

Yesterday, I took a moment to stroll around the forest surrounding our 200-acre property at Eungella, west of Mackay.

Budding forth were beautiful emerald shoots and sapling spears emerging from the undergrowth. I marvelled at how quickly rainforest vegetation is able to regrow from the ash and smoke left after bushfire in Queensland.

This small section of rainforest was completely wiped out in the fires of November last year; the same fires that almost burned down my home and destroyed our livelihood.

To me, this lush forest is both a reminder of the regular danger we now face as hot and dry weather is our daily reality and a symbol of survival that solutions to the problems we have created through climate change are in our collective hands.

I know the greenery I admired will soon dry out and turn brown, and become a bushfire heaven that will once again threaten our very existence; both beautiful and terrifying..

The hot and dry conditions of late 2018 were unbearable. For weeks we had spot fires burning on the mountains surrounding our sugar cane farm.

In Finch Hatton and Eungella bushfires hit "catastrophic" levels for the first time.

Finch Hatton fires 28-11-2018 21.29

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Our formerly "wet tropics" are now being classified as prime bushfire territory, forcing everyone who lives here to reassess their lives, their jobs and the safety of their homes.

And we are being warned that worse is to come.

A new Climate Council report, published on Wednesday says that overlapping fire seasons will increasingly restrict the ability of states and territories to send firefighting assistance, driving up costs or alternatively, increasing losses.

For us, our once thriving sugar cane farm is no longer a viable option in a changing climate, and we have had to look at new ways to adapt to the hot and dry conditions.

We have planted native grasses to improve soil quality, invested in cattle to naturally assist in land clearing, and planted finger lime trees as a new source of income.

We are making all these changes as a strategic and personal choice, but what we need is immediate government strategy and fast action on climate change.

Fire damage to a cane farm in Finch Hatton. Picture: Emma Murray

Australia must reduce its greenhouse gas pollution rapidly and deeply to reduce the risk of exposure to extreme events, including bushfires.

We have the solutions at our disposal, we just need to accelerate the transition to renewables and storage technologies.

Last year, as the bushfire raged closer, I sat in my car for two hours contemplating if I should stay or leave, watching as ash fell from the sky onto my windscreen.

We were lucky, as were many of our neighbours, but will we be so fortunate this year? Only with immediate and drastic change to improve our climate can we be sure of our future here in Eungella, and that's the terrifying truth.
 

Originally published as The terrifying truth facing Mackay's landowners