Here are some facts for this day. You are welcome to log your interesting, quirky or fun fact/s with your log.
On This Day - January 18th
Australian History
2003 - Firestorms begin their onslaught on Canberra, capital of Australia.
Australia's capital city, Canberra, lies in the Australian Capital Territory, which is some 2,359 square kilometres in size. With a population of around 324,000, it is Australia's largest inland city.
In January of 2003, intense bushfires burned through the Australian Capital Territory, damaging almost 70% of its pasture land, forests and nature parks over the period of a week. The fires were started by lightning strikes in the Kosciuszko National Park to the west of the ACT. A state of emergency was declared in the city itself when, at 2.45pm on 18 January 2003, the fires reached the outskirts of Canberra and began encroaching upon the city. Over the next ten hours, four people died and more than 500 homes were destroyed.
One of the greatest cultural and scientific losses caused by the fires was the damage to the Mount Stromlo Observatory, headquarters of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics of the Australian National University. Five historically significant telescopes were destroyed, while instrumentation and engineering workshops, the observatory's library and the main administration buildings were also consumed.