Black Saturday at Steels Creek

(Paperback)

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Description

The Black Saturday bushfires killed 173 people - wreaking a greater human toll than any other fire in Australia's history. Ten of those victims died in Steels Creek, a small community on Melbourne's outskirts. It was a beautiful place, which its residents had long treasured and loved. By the evening of 7 February 2009, it felt like a battlefield. Prize-winning historian Peter Stanley tells the dramatic stories of this small piece of country on that one terrifying evening - of epic fights to save houses, of escapes, and of deaths. He also tells the tale of a community - of people's attachments to the valley and to each other - and how, over the weeks and years that followed, they lived with the aftermath of the fire. The most detailed account of any one community to emerge from the fire, Black Saturday at Steels Creek shows what Black Saturday means not only for Steels Creek, but also for Australia as a whole.

Reviews

"A terrific account of a terrible day, and of what followed . . . Written with compassion and insight." --Annelise Balsamo, Books & Publishing
"Peter Stanley has used his skills as a historian to meticulously record the events of that day . . . in this gripping account." --Dianne Dempsey, Age
"The most significant topic in this warming world of ours. An important and deeply moving book." --Adrian Hyland, author, Kinglake-350

Author Bio

Dr Peter Stanley has published 25 books, mainly in Australian military social history, such as Tarakan, Quinn's Post, and Men of Mont St Quentin (also published by Scribe). In 2011, he jointly won the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History for Bad Characters: Sex, Crime, Mutiny, Murder, and the Australian Imperial Force.