while you were yapping i was digging, page-6

gm, the 1000 year drought was a throw away line by some politician and not borne out by statistics or anecdotal evidence from times before official data was compiled. It was generally considered that the federation drought was worse than the most recent one, but observations made at the time of the federation drought was, that as bad as it was then, it still wasn't as bad as the early to mid 1800's. This seems to be borne out in a book released recently detailing the history of a river system in western Victoria .
Incidently this now lush area of SW Victoria and SE South Australia was from 21,000 to 8,000 years ago as dry as what the Mallee is today. The climate then turned tropical and settled into it's present climate about 3,000 years ago.
As far as your fire storm being a new phenomenon, you obviously are not a student of history. Some of the worst fires ever in Australia have swept through this area, the worst was in 1939 when the fires burnt all the way to the coast.
Just another reminder about your lush green lawn. If you have a bad fire that has the potential to burn you out, your lawn will be worse than nothing. In fact it will provide a fuel load sufficient to set your blinds and curtains inside the house on fire. If a fire is heading your way, the hot winds that precede it will have dried the lawn to a crisp before any flames are even in sight.
As I've already mentioned, if your yard is big enough, planting blue gums will provide a barrier to your property, as long as your yard is big enough.