The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC is supporting research at the Australian National University to identify alternative ways to learn from catastrophic events.   Over 75 years (starting with the 1939 Street Royal Commission into the Victorian bushfires and ending with the 2013 Hyde inquiry into the Tasmanian fires) no less than 29 Royal Commissions, coronial inquests and special inquiries have investigated Australian bushfires and produced in excess of 1640 recommendations for reform. That’s an average of one inquiry every two and a half years, each inquiry producing 57 recommendations or 22 recommendations per year. 

Rather than looking at the cause of, and response to particular events, this paper will review the inquiries themselves to identify common themes and ask: What have we learned and what are we yet to learn?   More importantly what can we learn about the inquiry process and are ad hoc inquiries into single, even catastrophic events, the best way to identify the necessary learning for long term community resilience?