--- title: 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage resource: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/ publisher: Office of the Surveyor-General, ACT Government licence: CC BY 4.0 licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ version: 2016-01-22 rows: 988 fields: 1 source: https://www.data.act.gov.au/resource/sksx-b49e.geojson?$limit=50000&$order=:id source_sha256: d84ab8002434464e55608fb63fe9749c8c2f5d5e8a1086563814cd63982b1735 language: en-AU operator: National Digital not_endorsed: true --- # 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage The burn area of the January 2003 Canberra bushfires and the land parcels whose homes or outbuildings were destroyed or damaged, one shape per area. Published by Office of the Surveyor-General, ACT Government under CC BY 4.0 and republished here in other formats, with cells typed and suppressed values made null. Office of the Surveyor-General, ACT Government has not endorsed this site. Also called: 2003 Bushfire Data ACT, Canberra fires January 2003 damage map, 2003 Canberra firestorm property damage. ## Download Latest version, redirects to `https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/v/2016-01-22/`: - csv: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.csv (22 KB) - xlsx: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.xlsx (14 KB) - json: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.json (38 KB) - geojson: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.geojson (754 KB) - parquet: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.parquet (152 KB) - sqlite: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.sqlite (53 KB) - duckdb: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.duckdb (100 KB) - gpkg: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.gpkg (414 KB) - pmtiles: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.pmtiles (43 KB) - ndjson: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.ndjson (37 KB) - arrow: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.arrow (6.4 KB) - csv.gz: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.csv.gz (182 B) Pinned version 2016-01-22: `https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/v/2016-01-22/data.`. Dated versions never change. ## Query The query API returns only the rows you ask for, as JSON, NDJSON or CSV, from the same typed rows as the files. It needs no key. Rows: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/act-2003-bushfire/rows. Counts and sums: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/act-2003-bushfire/aggregate. - Rows: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/act-2003-bushfire/rows?limit=5 - Aggregate: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/act-2003-bushfire/aggregate?group=poly_desc&metric=count Each filter is `field=operator.value` in the query string, and every filter must match. A number or date field compares as a number or date, and a text field compares as text. Values are case-sensitive except with `ilike`. Prefix `not.` to negate a filter, as `not.eq.value`. Operators: `eq.value`, `neq.value`, `gt.value`, `gte.value`, `lt.value`, `lte.value`, `like.*text*`, `ilike.*text*`, `in.(a,b,c)`, `is.null`. - `select`: Fields to return, comma-separated. Every field when absent. - `order`: `field.asc` or `field.desc`, comma-separated. The publisher's row order when absent. - `limit`: Rows per page, 1 to 10,000. 100 when absent. - `offset`: Rows to skip. The `next` URL in each answer sets it for you. - `group`: On `aggregate`, fields to group by, comma-separated. - `metric`: On `aggregate`, `count`, `sum.field`, `avg.field`, `min.field` or `max.field`, comma-separated. `count` when absent. - `format`: `json`, `ndjson` or `csv`. JSON carries the provenance header, and the others carry it in response headers. Without a version the API answers from the newest loaded version, and that answer changes when the publisher releases again. Put `versions//` before `rows` or `aggregate` for an answer that never changes. `/api/v1/datasets//versions` lists the loaded versions. The API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Above that it answers 429 for 10 seconds with a `Retry-After` header, a `RateLimit-Policy` header and a JSON body that gives the limit. Every API answer carries the same `RateLimit-Policy`. A client should wait the `Retry-After` seconds, or read the files, which have no limit. OpenAPI for this dataset: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/openapi.json ## Explore Charts and dashboards in the browser: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/explore/. A dashboard can be shared as a link or embedded. ## Fields | field | type | publisher's header | note | |---|---|---|---| | `poly_desc` | string | poly_desc | The total burn area, or the status of an affected parcel as the publisher describes it. | ## Versions - 2016-01-22: 988 rows, 1 fields, sha256 d84ab8002434. https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/v/2016-01-22/ Machine-readable: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/versions.json, https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/changes.json, https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/datapackage.json, https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/schema.json, https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/history.tar.zst ## Same subject, other publishers - [Bushfire and prescribed burn history, South Australia](https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/) (SA) - [Current bushfire incidents and warnings, Queensland, daily snapshot](https://publicdata.au/d/qld-bushfire-incidents-current/) (Qld) - [Public barbecues, ACT](https://publicdata.au/d/act-barbecues/) (ACT) - [Police stations, ACT](https://publicdata.au/d/act-police-stations/) (ACT) - [Bushfires NT brigade and office locations](https://publicdata.au/d/nt-bushfire-brigade-locations/) (NT) - [Queensland towns flood extent, January 2011](https://publicdata.au/d/qld-flood-extent-2011-january/) (Qld) - [Bundaberg flood extent, January 2013](https://publicdata.au/d/qld-flood-extent-2013-bundaberg/) (Qld) - [Traffic camera locations, ACT](https://publicdata.au/d/act-traffic-camera-locations/) (ACT) - [Mobile phone detection camera sites, ACT](https://publicdata.au/d/act-mobile-distraction-camera-locations/) (ACT) - [Police, fire, ambulance and SES stations, Australia](https://publicdata.au/d/au-emergency-services-facilities/) (Cth) - [State electorate boundaries, 2025, Australia](https://publicdata.au/d/abs-state-electoral-divisions-2025/) (Cth) - [Commonwealth Heritage List places, boundaries, Australia](https://publicdata.au/d/au-commonwealth-heritage-list-places/) (Cth) ## Attribution and citation ACT Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate, ACT Government, 2003 Bushfire Data, https://www.data.act.gov.au/d/sksx-b49e, accessed 3 October 2026, licensed under CC BY 4.0. The licence requires the publisher's attribution. We ask that you also name publicdata.au and link to the version you used. Plain text: ACT Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate, ACT Government, 2003 Bushfire Data, https://www.data.act.gov.au/d/sksx-b49e, accessed 3 October 2026, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/v/2016-01-22/ Harvard: Office of the Surveyor-General, ACT Government (2016) 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage, version 2016-01-22 [data set], CC BY 4.0, sourced 3 October 2026. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au. Available at: https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/v/2016-01-22/ Markdown: Data: [2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage](https://www.data.act.gov.au/d/sksx-b49e), Office of the Surveyor-General, ACT Government, [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), sourced 3 October 2026. Files: [publicdata.au](https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/v/2016-01-22/) by [National Digital](https://nationaldigital.com.au/). ## Questions ### How do I download 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage as a CSV file? Open https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/v/2016-01-22/data.csv today. The same path serves Excel, JSON, GeoJSON, Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, GeoPackage, PMTiles, NDJSON, Arrow. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same. ### Can I open 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage in Excel? Yes. https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/v/2016-01-22/data.xlsx is a workbook with the 988 rows on a records sheet, the field list on a second sheet and the provenance on a third. The CSV also opens in Excel. https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/v/2016-01-22/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size. ### What years does 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage cover? The current version covers the years since 2003. Each release from ACT Surveyor-General becomes a new dated version here, and earlier versions stay online. ### How often is 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage updated? ACT Surveyor-General no longer updates it. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes. ### Can I use 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage commercially? Yes. CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file. ### Is this the official source for 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage? No. The publisher is Office of the Surveyor-General, ACT Government, and its page is https://www.data.act.gov.au/d/sksx-b49e. This site republishes the publisher's file without changing its content. The original sits beside every version as source.geojson with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared. ### What coordinate system does 2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage use? The portal's GeoJSON export is in WGS84 longitude and latitude; the shapes are moved to GDA2020, which differs by under 2 metres. The GeoJSON file uses GDA2020 as well, which differs from the WGS84 GeoJSON expects by well under a metre. ### What is in each row? One shape with the publisher's description of it. One shape is the total burn area of the January 2003 fires in the ACT, and the others are land parcels marked as uninhabitable, for property redevelopment, or with damage to a primary dwelling or a habitable outbuilding. ### Will it change? The publisher marks the data as never updated. It is the record of one event. ### Where is the publisher's file? The portal serves the layer as a table with each shape as text. This site reads the portal's GeoJSON export of the same rows, ordered by the portal's row identifier, and keeps that file as the source of every version. ## What this site did to the data Cells were typed, headers were renamed to snake_case and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. Nothing is derived. The publisher's file is beside every version as `source.geojson`. ## Improve this dataset This page is built from [register/act-2003-bushfire.yaml](https://github.com/National-Digital/publicdata.au/blob/main/register/act-2003-bushfire.yaml) on GitHub, and a fix to it is welcome as a pull request. https://publicdata.au/contribute/ explains how.