2025 Grampians Bushfires – Friends of Grampians Gariwerd

The Flumes

The Flumes near Barri Yalug

In the late 1800s, water was needed for the community in Stawell and Halls Gap and for the expanding gold mines at Pleasant Creek.

In 1869, the Stawell Shire Council engaged Government Surveyor C. Bagge to provide a report on the best way to get water. The scheme chosen was the Glenfyan scheme proposed by Borough Engineer John d’Alton in 1872. The plan was to blast a tunnel through Mt William range and supply this with water from a dam on Fyans Creek using Flumes (open aqueducts). The water would then pass through the tunnel to a pipeline (24km long) and onwards to a reservoir on Big Hill in Stawell.
Work commenced in February 1875. The Flumes ran for 10km` to the tunnel. The scheme took more than 6 years to complete finishing in July 1881.

Remnants of the Flumes can still be seen today, … Read the rest

August 8th 2025 DEECA Update on the Joint Fuel Management Program

Dom Uljanic, Emily Kirton and Claire Mackay from DEECA attended and provided 16 members and non-members with an overview of the recent Grampians fires (2024-2025) and plans for future fire management.
The recent fires were unprecedented burning 136,647 hectares, 2/3 of the National Park, and one of 7 major landscape fires in the Grampians in the last 19 years.
Multiple dry lightning strikes, a period of extended dry conditions, wind and weather conditions led to the Yarram Gap fire rapidly getting out of control and reaching a size of 100 hectares in a matter of minutes. This was despite the early deployment of 4 bombers. Due to the location, it was not possible to get a ground crew in, and firefighting efforts relied on aerial control.
This was sobering. It was clear to me from the talk that fire management is a juggling act of resources, local knowledge, tactics and … Read the rest

Grampians Fire and Parks Victoria Updates

16th December 2024 onwards to May 2025

Chronology: 16th December 2024 A lightning band started multiple fires across Grampians including at Yarram Gap. Forest Fire Management planes started patrolling immediately. Despite large numbers of aircraft, water bombers and ground crew operations the fire spread along the Mt William range, Mt Rosea and Sundial area over the next two weeks. This fire extended south towards Walker Swamp and west into the Wannon River valley and east towards Pomonal and Moyston.

Halls Gap and surrounding towns were evacuated several times. Christmas was a very unsettling time for many.

This Yarram Gap fire burnt 76000 hectares of National Park and farmland and had a perimeter of 427km. Including farmland and homes around Pomonal and Moyston.

From 3/1/2025 Wildlife welfare crews conducted assessments with vets to care for injured wildlife and food drops were being conducted throughout the Grampians National Park. Plus impact assessment … Read the rest