The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 on 16 February 1983. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by winds of up to 110 km per hour (68 mph) caused widespread destruction across the states of Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 and South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. Years of severe drought

1979-1983 Eastern Australian drought

Between 1979 and 1983 almost all of eastern Australia was affected by a major drought.Although in some places such as the South Coast the drought was almost continuous, in most of the affected region the major years of drought were 1980 and 1982.-Background:...

 and extreme weather combined to create one of Australia’s worst fire days in a century.