Fraser Island township spared by metres after bushfire

“The leaves from the fire – they were black but they weren’t embers – they gathered on the lawn and it’s a big tidy-up today,” Ms Porter said. “We’re cleaning up the ash and everything.”

She remained hopeful the ban on new visitors to the island would be lifted next week to allow a return of tourists before the busy summer holiday period after a tough year with COVID-19. “We’ve just got to hold out,” she said.

Two fire fronts remain near Kingfisher Bay Resort and Cathedral Beach, with an estimated 85,000 hectares of the island’s total 184,000 hectares now burned.

A total of 90 personnel from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation, 34 vehicles and 24…