Many Canberrans will be able to say exactly where they were on this day 15 years ago, when bushfires hit the city. But for many others, today is a day to learn about the fires that devastated hundreds of houses -- and not just because they are too young to remember.
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While many residents of Duffy, Chapman and Giralang still have vivid memories, the high turnover of the ACT population means that many locals didn't experience the fire or its aftermath.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that through internal migration -- people moving within Australia instead of out of the country -- 1,047,620 people left the ACT between 2003 and 2016, while 1,047,750 moved into the area in the same time. The statistics include the same people moving in and out of the territory, but on average 75,000 people move in and out of the ACT from other states each year. It's not just people coming and going as their careers change -- the 2016 census showed that the ACT population had grown by 11.2 per cent in five years, with the population at 406,403 people on census night. The population in June 2003 was 322,800, meaning the collective memory of the city doesn't always go as far as it may in other places.
Simon Kuestenmacher, director of research at the Demographics Group says the data shows that the two years following the fire show an increase in people moving out of the ACT, with 7260 more people leaving than arriving in 2003 and 4570 more people leaving than arriving in 2004. Other changes in the population around the country can be attributed to the mining boom and the worldwide recession in 2009.
Due to the nature of the public service workforce and the major universities in the city, the ACT has the highest rate of turnover of population than other states and territories.
"You pretty much have this expat population, even though they are technically not expats because they are within the same country," Mr Kuestenmacher said.
"There's this constant churn, the turnover (of people) is big."
This can contribute to a limited sense of ownership of the community's history, Mr Kuestenmacher said.
"In country towns, somewhere like Bendigo where there isn't much movement, people feel very connected, there's more local knowledge and historical knowledge," he said.
Historical knowledge may be higher than expected in the ACT, he said, due to the well-educated population. There are limits to what the statistics can tell show about whether people living in Canberra in 2003 are still here, as the numbers don't show whether people have left and returned.
Professor Robert Tanton, director of the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling said that while statistics don't show just how many people would remember the bushfires, they do point to a rapidly changing demographic in the territory.
"What we have in Canberra between 2011 and 2016 is the highest population growth of any state or territory," he said.
The 2016 census showed more people renting than had previously been reported, changing the connection people have to the area they live in.
"There's some research we've been doing about renting and people connecting to their communities and we do tend to find people who are renting have less of a connection to those owning or who have a mortgage."
