Court rules late pastoralist Tom Brinkworth's actions led to SA bushfire
In short:
The Supreme Court has ruled that the late pastoralist Tom Brinkworth lit vegetation heaps on fire that smouldered for six months before reigniting in January 2021.
The Blackford bushfire destroyed three houses, threatened the town of Lucindale and burnt thousands of hectares of land.
What's next?
The Brinkworth family has appealed the judgement.
A Supreme Court judge has found that a significant 2021 bushfire in South Australia's south-east stemmed from a rubbish heap that was left smouldering for six months before reigniting.
The fire was lit by pastoralist Tom Brinkworth to burn vegetation on his property outside Lucindale, 345 kilometres from Adelaide, in July 2020.
The grazier, who also owned the nearby landmark the Big Lobster, died a month later at the age of 83, but the rubbish heap had continued to smoulder.
Then on January 11, 2021, the rubbish heap reignited and started the Blackford bushfire, which threatened the town of Lucindale.
Tom Brinkworth owned properties in South Australia and interstate. (Landline: Tim Lee)
A group of farmers subsequently launched legal action against executors of Mr Brinkworth's estate: his widow Patricia Brinkworth, his sons Ben and Angas Brinkworth, and their accountant, John Finnis.
Supreme Court Justice Laura Stein said the defence's argument that the fire was started by lightning was "not a plausible or probable cause of the bushfire".
Damages have not yet been awarded and the Brinkworths are appealing the case to the Court of Appeal.
Damage to farms and animals
The fire burnt about 14,000 hectares of land, destroyed three houses and killed thousands of sheep.
Cattle and native animals also died.
About 100 people sheltered in Lucindale as the fire came close to the small town.
An injured koala was discovered after the fire. (Supplied: Grant Higgins)
The class action was launched in August 2021.
One farmer, Peter Kurray, settled his case against the Brinkworths last July without the Brinkworths admitting fault in relation to the fire.
The other plaintiffs — the Higgins, Justin, Trimboli and Copping families — continued with the case.
Justice Stein's judgement was handed down in June, but only published in the past week.
A field just outside of Lucindale was burnt in the fire. (ABC News: Sarah Mullins)
Famous pastoralist saved icon
Tom Brinkworth owned about 1 million hectares of pastoral land at the time of his death.
He won and lost several court cases over land clearing and animal cruelty allegations.
In 2018, he stepped in to save Kingston South East's giant 17-metre-tall crayfish — Larry the Lobster — from being moved from SA's coast to Western Australia.
The Brinkworths own Larry the Lobster in Kingston South East. (ABC South East SA: Sam Bradbrook)
He famously droved 18,000 cattle from Queensland to New South Wales in 2013.
The Brinkworths have been contacted for comment.
Satellite showed hot spots
Lawyers for the Brinkworths suggested the fire started when lightning hit a tree on their property, known as Westlands, on November 10, 2020, and then it smouldered until January 11, when the fire started on a 38-degree Celsius day.
The vegetation heap at 1:18pm on January 11, 2020, when the fire was active. (Supplied: Supreme Court of South Australia)
But Justice Stein said it was unlikely the tree caught on fire on the day because of rain during the same storm that caused the lightning.
She said its green canopy before and after the fire meant it was unlikely a fire was burning within it for 62 days after the supposed lightning strike.
She particularly relied on NASA satellite images that showed hot spots on the property on July 1 and July 14, 2020, where the vegetation heaps were.
A NASA satellite map shows a red mark where there was a thermal anomaly on July 14, 2020. (Supplied: Supreme Court of South Australia)
"I find that the respondents breached their duty to take reasonable care in the conduct of their vegetation burn-off activities conducted on Westlands," she wrote.
"The respondents breached their duty by failing to construct the active heap in accordance with the CFS Code, failing to surround it with a fire break, failing to adequately monitor the active heap after it was lit, failing to fully extinguish the active heap after it was lit and had burned, failing to check the active heap before the fire danger season started to ensure it was fully extinguished, and failing to ensure the active heap was fully extinguished prior to January 11, 2021."