You would travel in a southwesterly direction to go to Melbourne from Canberra.
The Canberra bushfires primarily occurred in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), particularly affecting the city of Canberra and its surrounding areas. The most significant fires took place in January 2003, devastating large portions of the city's landscape and infrastructure. These fires were part of a broader series of bushfires that impacted southeastern Australia during that period.
The direction to travel from Japan to Canberra is south.
The Canberra bushfires started at 2.45pm on 18 January 2003 and, at their worst, lasted for ten hours.
Northeast
One would travel south to get from Lismore to Canberra.
Mt Stromlo observatory was destroyed in the January 2003 Canberra bushfires.To find more information about how much destruction Mt Stromlo experienced, together with its redevelopment, see the related weblink below.
The Australian Capital Territory, where the Canberra bushfires occurred, covers 2,359 square kilometres. During the bushfires of January 2003, almost 70% of the ACT's pasture land, forests and nature parks were burnt. That works out to 1,651 square kilometres. This does not include the 500 homes destroyed.
The Canberra bushfires of 2003 were started by lightning strikes in the Kosciuszko National Park to the west of the ACT. These spread to the adjoining Brindabella and Namadgi National Parks near Canberra and a state of emergency was declared in the city itself when, at 2.45pm on 18 January 2003, the fires reached the outskirts of Canberra and began encroaching upon the city. The fires were exacerbated by the heat and dry conditions, a common problem in southern inland Australia in summer.
Bushfires are unpredictable. However, they always move faster uphill - for every ten degrees of gradient slope, the bushfire speed doubles. Depending on the winds, bushfires can rapidly change direction.
Canberra has never been "destroyed", but it has been badly damaged. The Canberra bushfires of 2003 caused severe damage to the outskirts of Canberra. Almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory's pasture, forest and nature parks were severly damaged, and most of the renowned Mount Stromlo Observatory was destroyed. After burning for a week around the edges of the ACT, the fires entered the suburbs of canberra on 18 January 2003.
If you travelled from Tasmania to Canberra, you would need to head north.