IF you haven’t been out to Mt Stromlo for a while, it’s well worth a visit. Right now, for instance, and running until mid-February, is the “Past, Present, Future” exhibition at the Scope centre, marking roughly 10 years since the devastating Canberra bushfires of 2003. 

It’s a reflective experience, not unlike a visit to the memorial centre in Hiroshima, where the detritus of everyday life, melted by extreme heat, is accompanied by video and pictorial documentation of an event that ordinary shattered lives while  bringing a community together.

On the ground floor of the exhibition there is footage of the fire-fighting, objects found after the fires, including huge lumps of glass recovered from the giant lenses of the destroyed Oddie & Reynolds telescopes. Many items have been provided by the ACT Fire Brigade Museum and community members have contributed both photographs and artefacts.

There is also abundant material provided by local ABC broadcasters, 666 ABC Canberra and ABC News, who provided extensive coverage during the fires.

Upstairs, the emphasis is on recollections of the event in paintings, remembered by local artists in the bright colours of fire, showing the personal experience of confronting the fires.

For adults, there is plenty of literature to take away on fire management and prevention, for both adults and children there is the “come, recollect and record” activities centre. And, in an interactive touch for all ages, paper cutouts of gum leaves can be inscribed with messages to be pinned to the drawn trunk of a “Memory” tree.

This is a modest exhibition with a singular community focus.

Entry to the exhibition is free.