‘Harrowing’: trauma caused by Morwell coalmine fire set high school students back 18 months

The Morwell coalmine fire in Victoria set high school students back more than 18 months academically, according to a new study.

The analysis of the Monash Rural Health Study led by Dr Emily Berger, published in the Trauma Psychology journal in December 2021, found that the 2014 fire led to an 18.5-month delay in the academic progress of secondary school students.

The research measured academic performance through examining the Naplan results of more than 300 students from 20 primary and secondary schools in the Latrobe Valley both before and after the mine fire, as well as surveying the students using the Children's Revised Impact of Events Scale (Cries-13), as a measure of psychological distress.

Berger said combining the two datasets was important because the educational and emotional states of students "go hand in hand" in disaster events.

Berger said the 18-month delay would have led students to a loss of engagement in learning and self-esteem, making it more likely for them to leave school before finishing year 12 or not complete higher education.

The fire in the Morwell open-cut brown coalmine next to the Hazelwood power station blanketed Morwell and surrounding areas in smoke and ash for six weeks in February and March 2014.

Dan Swallow, the acting principal of the Morwell Campus of Kurnai College, was year 7 coordinator at the time of the fire. He said what stuck with him most was the disruption for the new cohort at "such a huge transition time".