Storm clouds over Canberra. Photo: Daniel Morton-Jones/Unsplash.
ANU anthropologist Dr Timothy Heffernan has been invited to deliver the 2026 Chief Minister’s Governance Lecture, exploring what Canberra’s 2005 storm can teach us about future disaster preparedness.
His lecture, Memory, risk and resilience: Preparing communities for more frequent disasters, will draw on Territory records from 2005, including records relating to the severe storm that struck Canberra on 2 December that year.
One of the city’s most destructive weather events, the storm brought down hundreds of trees and powerlines, damaged buildings across more than 50 suburbs. It also resulted in one death, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Dr Heffernan, a Lecturer in Anthropology and Development Studies at the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology, will examine the storm as both a weather event and a social event.
Drawing on archival records and his broader research into disaster recovery, he will consider how Canberrans experienced and responded to the storm, what the city has remembered or forgotten since, and what that means for disaster preparedness today.
Among the records that stood out to Dr Heffernan were media debates about whether gum trees were suitable for Canberra’s suburbs after falling trees caused extensive damage. The debate, he says, is particularly significant given Canberra’s identity as the bush capital.
Records of a live emergency scenario involving a chlorine release raise a different question. Conducted in the year after the devastating 2003 Canberra bushfires, the scenario focused on a chemical exposure event even though bushfires and storms are among the ACT’s main hazards. Dr Heffernan says this reflects a wider body of disaster management research suggesting that we are often preparing for the wrong disaster.
Urgent calls to the State Emergency Service provide a more immediate view of what happened when the storm struck.
“It showed the desperation of the situation but also the care people showed, with neighbours calling in to help those around them,” Dr Heffernan says.
The calls also highlight the role residents played in responding to the disaster. The community sector later recommended including the experiences of volunteers and community organisations in official debriefs and lessons learned, but Dr Heffernan says this recommendation has not yet been fully realised.
For Dr Heffernan, how communities remember previous disasters shapes how they prepare for the next one. As disasters become more frequent and severe, he says community memory deserves the same attention as infrastructure and planning.
“Records remind us of what transpired in the past, but to improve disaster recovery outcomes, the experience of the past needs to be taken seriously,” Dr Heffernan says.
“This requires embedding local communities into disaster management, and including their experiences in how we use the past to inform the present and future.”
The annual Chief Minister’s Governance Lecture draws on recently released ACT Government records to examine issues relevant to the history and administration of the ACT and their continuing significance for the Canberra community.
The lecture will be held from 6–8 pm on Tuesday 24 November 2026 at the ACT Government Office, 220 London Circuit, Canberra.
