A wide range of resources have been selected to support teaching and learning activities on the Bushfire Education webpages, including the following.
Factsheets and tasksheets
These lesson-specific factsheets and tasksheets are categorised by the four themes of learning about, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from bushfires.
A bush beyond recovery?
Description: An extract from the book Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland, about Kinglake after Black Saturday
Cause for hope
Description: Extract from the book Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland, about signs of recovery bringing hope
Financial hardships after the fire
Description: Extract from the book Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland, about the expense of rebuilding
Helping farmers recover
Description: How the simple act of putting up a flyer in the general store helped farmers recover
Recovering - farms
Description: An extract from Rosewhite resident Robin McDonald’s witness statement to the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission
Seeds of recovery, Kinglake
Description: Examples of the real driving force behind the community'’s recovery
Survival against the odds
Description: An extract from Marysville resident Edward Cherry‘s witness statement to the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission
Task sheet 5: Vegetation
Description: An activity that focuses on how vegetation can influence bushfire
The wonders of Kinglake National Park
Description: How the Kinglake National Park has recovered after bushfire
Image gallery
The image gallery, with over 140 images, is categorised by the four themes of learning about, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from bushfires.
Links to videos
These videos are available on YouTube. Each video link will open a new window.
Sprinklers protect a house, Black Saturday 2009
Bunyip fire, Black Saturday, 7 February 2009
Marysville, after Black Saturday, 8 February 2009
Recognising the work of volunteers
Prepare. Act. Survive. Fire Ready Fire Plan
Links to external resources
These links are to other resources from Victorian, Commonwealth, and other States and Territory bushfire prevention agencies, as well as Australian and international bushfire resources.
2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission
Description: The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission website contains the Royal Commission's final report into the Black Saturday fires, as well as exhibits, submissions, witness statements and picture galleries.
Country Fire Authority (CFA)
Description: The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is a volunteer and community based fire and emergency services organisation. The CFA provides numerous resources to support fire education programs for students, ranging from pre-primary to secondary. For more information, visit the
CFA schools webpage.
Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP)
Description: With Parks Victoria, DELWP manages fire in Victoria's 7.6 million hectares of public land (about one third of the State). DELWP also provides other resources, starting with the 'Safer Together' program.
Disaster Resilience Education Victoria (DRE)
Description: The Disaster Resilience Education builds students’ understanding of the causes, nature and effects of hazards. This easy-to-use teacher-delivered website is designed specifically for Victorian secondary school students in Years 7 to 9 and aligns with the Victorian Curriculum.
Victorian Government (vic.gov.au)
Description: A range of resources and advice for schools and early childhood services, including emergency management plans, procedures and actions to assist in preparing students for the threat of emergencies such as bushfires.
Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV)
Description: Fire Rescue Victoria is a modern fire and rescue service that meets the needs of 21st-century Victoria and provides emergency services as well as fire prevention activities, including education program for schools. For more information, see the Education programs section of the FRV website.
Victorian Bushfires Collection
Description: Following Black Saturday, Museum Victoria set up the Victorian Bushfires Collection. The collection includes bushfire-damaged objects, emergency services equipment, oral histories, artwork, images, and material from public education campaigns.
Parks Victoria
Description: Parks Victoria administer the national parks in Victoria, which include education centres at Wilsons Promontory National Park, Dandenong Ranges National Park and Kinglake National Park. All education centres offer bushfire education programs on the impact of fire on plant and animal diversity, fire risk assessment, post-fire recovery and firefighting strategies.
Royal Botanical Gardens Cranbourne
Description: The Fire and the Australian Environment program for primary and secondary students raises awareness of the role of fire in the Australian landscape. Experiences include a discovery walk, exploration of plant adaptations, succession after fire and calculating the overall fuel hazard for a set site.
Australian Red Cross
Description: The Australian Red Cross offers an array of emergency services in Australia. Its website has numerous resources on helping communities with their recovery processes, including how communities can plan to recover from bushfires.
Bureau of Meteorology
Description: The Bureau of Meteorology's Bushfire Weather provides a number of resources on weather and its relationship to fire dangers, including the bushfire threat. The site describes the different fire seasons that occur in Australia and relates these to high bushfire risk weather patterns
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Description: The Bushfires website shares the CSIRO's research on bushfires and how people can better prepare for when they occur. It includes film clips, bushfire Q&As, fast facts, climate information and related links.
Geoscience Australia
Description: Geoscience Australia provides information related to bushfires, including links to various research reports and access to resources such as Sentinel, which is the national bushfire monitoring system that maps current fire locations in Australia.
NASA
Description: NASA's Earth Observatory website provides satellite images of bushfires and other natural disasters. In particular, see NASA's satellite images of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfire.
Bushfires NT
Description: Bushfires NT is the Department of Land Resource Management's bushfire education resource. They produce the 'Fire Book' for educators and land management agencies working with Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.
Emergency WA
Description: Emergency WA has resources designed for both primary and secondary students.
North Australian Fire Information
Description: The North Australian Fire Information website allows people to see where fires are burning in real time, hotspots throughout the year and recent fire scars.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service
Description: The New South Wales Rural Fire Service offers a series of downloadable resources to educate students and teens on fire safety. It includes a Bush Fire Safety website with downloads of brochures and factsheets relating to bushfires.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services - Rural Fire Service
Description: The Queensland Fire and Emergency Services includes Blazer's Kids' Corner, which contains activities for early primary students to raise awareness about fire safety and bushfire education resources for teachers targeting Years 5 and 6 students.
South Australian Country Fire Service
Description: The South Australian Country Fire Service's website has resources both to educate students on fire safety and to provide practical planning information for adults.
Tasmania Fire Service
Description: The Tasmania Fire Service has information relating to preparing for bushfires. The TFS also delivers a home fire safety education program for Tasmanian primary schools.
Triple Zero
Description: Triple Zero Kids' Challenge is an interactive game built by the NSW Fire and Rescue Service that educates primary students about coping in an emergency and using the Triple Zero emergency call service appropriately.