Rendering the untimely event of disaster ever present

So-called ‘natural’ disasters are an integral part of the Australian landscape, with the nation being celebrated as a land of fire and flooding rains. Yet extreme events do not often impact directly on most Australians. A disaster, by definition, comprises relatively exceptional phenomena. It is often experienced as a mediated product and representation of something that has already happened and is now a fading memory or a threat looming closer, perhaps, but always still to come. The disaster is no longer or not yet present in the landscape and is thus located elsewhere, relegated to the past or the future.