A decade of considered bushfire planning and horse property maintenance helped save an entire town. Willinga Park effectively blocked the advance of the massive Currowan Fire towards the coastal town of Bawley Point during Australia’s catastrophic 2019-2020 fire season.
As part of an exclusive series on resilience and planning for extreme weather events, I spoke with Terry Snow, founder of this award-winning equestrian facility to learn the strategies that prevented a disaster.
A man with a vision
Terry Snow, a Canberra-born businessman with a noteworthy track record in property development and a passion for Australian Stock Horses and Performance horses, is the driving force behind Willinga Park, and is more than happy to share his experience in fire planning and preparedness.
Terry tells me he purchased the property, which lies to the west of Bawley Point on the south coast of New South Wales, in 2002 and mainly to facilitate travel to and from their family holiday residence. However, his long-time love of horses and riding had already led him to embark on the Bicentennial Trail, and it sparked the idea of developing Willinga Park.
“I rode most of [the Bicentennial Trail] and on return, I saw the opportunity to breed [Australian] Stock Horses on the property, and it all evolved from there” says Terry.
As yards and facilities were built, Terry realised the potential of adding performance horses to his herd, specifically Warmbloods, to cross-breed with his Stock Horses, the aim being to create an all-round horse with good temperament for those who are not specifically interested in riding large preformance-bred Warmbloods.
His vision has grown the property into what it is today – a world-class equestrian centre and pastoral property covering over 2,000 acres.
The renowned architecturally designed facilities include covered and outdoor arenas for the Olympic disciplines, Campdrafting and Polocrosse, plus stockyards, pastures and stables that are used throughout the year for hosting featured events, such as Dressage by the Sea, Eventing@Willinga, Jumping@Willinga and The Gold Buckle Campdraft Championships.
“Willinga’s location still attracts many riders from across Australia who want to participate in our featured events and make use of its great facilities” says Terry.
The property can accommodate over 100 horses year-round as well as 600 cattle, and it has been designed with a park landscape in mind, it is adorned with native gardens and striking art sculptures.
In addition, Willinga Park offers holiday accommodation and a brand new equine hospital, the latest project to capture Terry’s attention.
With a clear enthusiasm, he explains that his aim is to establish a unique facility with a special focus on fertility and breeding. The veterinary staff are already working closely with the Royal Women’s Hospital on various human-based, advanced reproduction techniques that can be conveyed to horses for improved outcomes.
Supporting all these public activities on a property that is reasonably remote has required the installation of a self-sufficienct energy supply.
To this effect, Terry invested in a private micro-grid comprised of an 800-kW solar system, a 500 kW/2.2 MWh Tesla battery storage system, and MVA diesel generators which are spread across three locations so as to secure the power supply. As he later explains, this energy setup was to play a crucial role during the Currowan fires.
For both, the energy micro grid and the architecturally designed buildings, Willinga Park has been acknowledged with various national awards.
Willinga Park’s bushfire planning
Willinga Park is situated in bushland west of the New South Wales coastal town of Bawley Point. It lies between the Meroo and Murramarang National Parks and is close to a major water inlet that is surrounded by swamplands.
Terry comments that from the start, it was obvious that the property’s major threat would be bushfires. Indeed, the property was put to the test in December 2019, when record temperatures and strong dry westerly winds pushed the Currowan fire across the Clyde River and Princess highway east towards Willinga Park and Bawley Point.
The fire, which started in on 26th November in remote bushland, spread towards the coast and would eventually claim three lives, 312 homes and almost 5,000,000 hectares of bush. But remarkably, Willinga Park withheld the wall of flames, which rised up to 100ft high, blocking its advance, intensity and effectively protecting the local town of Bawley Point.
“This was largely prevented because of how we manage the property”, Terry says when I ask how this happened.
Terry explains that Willinga Park has been developed in stages, with various bushland clearings being completed for building and pastoral zoning purposes while leaving many mature trees standing. It is also important to note that prior to the purchase, the forests had been intensively logged, removing most of the large dominant overstorey trees and given rise to a pulse of dense regeneration, choking all the grass.
Such regrowth poses a major fire hazard, and Terry maintains that the key to their success has been working from the start with a fire consultant and implementing the recommended bush fire-ready strategies, such as fuel-reduction management over the last ten years.
The strategy clearly paid off. When the fire front hit, the lack of fuel on the ground halted its journey eastwards across the property and also absorbed the spot fires that in turn prevented it from approaching the town. “Only a few trees on the place had burn spots, and we only had to replace some water pipes and repair some fencing”, he says.
During the bushfire
Terry recounts how quickly the fires went through. Before and during the fire event he stayed in contact with his fire consultant, checking the fire front’s direction of travel and discussing their stay-and-defend approach, which Terry explains was a good option thanks to their land management and self-sufficient power supply.
In addition, Willing Park harvests its own water and at the time of the fires, had good fire-fighting supplies stored in various dams and a lake, which they pumped into their private water trucks. Aided by the Rural Fire and Emergency Services, the spot fires around Willinga Park were contained and prevented a major fire disaster.
In fact, confidence in Willinga Park’s management and fire planning meant that many locals could evacuate their horses from surrounding areas to Willinga Park for safety. The horses were kept in groups in 60 to 80-acre paddocks and supplemented with hay, which had been sourced and stored despite the long drought.
“We purposely kept pastures well grazed to reduce fuel load” says Terry. He notes how the horses and cattle remained reasonably calm and stayed contained in the paddocks as the fires approached.
Bushfire aftermath and reflection
When you consider the size and intensity of the fire front, and its impact on other communities, it is impressive to hear that no people or animals needed to be evacuated and overall, the property sustained such minimal damage.
But while Terry is adamant that his long-term planning and fuel reduction approach were the most crucial aspects, in practice, there are various State, Territory and local government restrictions regarding clearing and the removal of any vegetation in private properties and around National Parks.
Terry explains he went through numerous consultations leading up to the dreadful 2019-2020 fire season. Based on his experience, he firmly believes that landholders should be able to more easily obtain approvals for hazard-reduction work, and receive clearer information on what fuel-load reduction activities they can undertake around their properties.
This was raised in the 2020 Report of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, also known as the Bushfires Royal Commission, which included Willinga Park’s approach as an example for fuel management on private land, and has resulted in some new developments in relation to fuel management and clearing without approval.
The following is an excerpt of the report submitted to the Bushfire Royal Commission. It was compiled by Paul de Mar, an expert consultant in bushfire risk management into the 2019 Currowan Fire impact at Willinga Park and Bawley Point:
“Fire spread stopped when it ran into the western and southern boundaries of Willinga Park. These areas were occupied by actively grazed paddocks, with an open cover of mature Eucalypts and Corymbias, from which dense regrowth vegetation (arising from previous intensive logging operations in the 1990s), had been cleared. The extent of the actively maintained and grazed paddocks also absorbed spotting from the Currowan Fire impact, preventing the fire from spotting over Willinga Park into dense vegetation to the east, extending to Bawley Point.
“Due to Willinga Park’s blocking effect on the fire run, in conjunction with the substantial efforts from local rural fire services brigades, supported by other emergency services, the local community and Willinga Park’s staff, a major fire disaster in Bawley Point was averted.”
In addition to the Vegetation Clearing Code of Practice (i.e. 10/50 vegetation clearing rule for people living near bushland), this year, NSW has also taken in effect a Rural Boundary Clearing Code (Clearing Code) which allows landowners to clear 25 metres of certain vegetation within their boundary for hazard reduction without further approvals.
Terry reiterates that without the regrowth clearing and stand thinning treatments over last 10 years, Willinga Park would have combusted.
“It’s not that you can’t have trees or vegetation, but you need to look at the spacing and reducing interlocking of canopies”, he says.
He also mentions that the species of trees and other vegetation around buildings should be considered, aiming for species that do not drop lot of bark and/or are highly flammable. While most jurisdictions would echo the use of natives, he comments that not many look at what particular native species are more appropriate, for example those that are less flammable.
Terry’s story shows there are various aspects to consider when it comes to being bushfire ready, but reducing fuel load and creating pastoral fire breaks were pivotal in blocking a fire run which would otherwise have engulfed the Bawley Point town. Terry insists that in preparations and planning, engaging a local fire and council consultant is a must.
As to what fire risk management advice he would give to any landowner; “It’s important that you clean up any fine fuel around your place”, he says. “If you have leaf litter and fine fuel like twigs and branches around, you will have a higher fire danger as it creates hotter fires. With each fire season approaching, it’s important that you manage your pastures and graze them well.”
“And stock up on hay – in a shed that is away from any direct danger of fire” he adds to emphasise the importance of being self-sufficient, which includes having plentiful fire-fighting water sources and an alternative power supply because often, the mains power will be cut during bushfires.
The future
Looking back on the event, Terry is proud of how well prepared they were for the 2019-2020 bushfires. The only further improvement undertaken since that time has been increasing the property’s water holding capacity.
Overall, Terry will apply the same approach of preparedness and land management that he has used over last 10 years.
The future for Willinga Park looks bright as it focuses on recommencing all the major equestrian events in 2022 and the opening of their specialist equine reproduction clinic.
Click here to find out more about Willinga Park, and stay up-to-date in relation to upcoming events.