Thirty-four people died in the fires, and another 417 died from smoke inhalation.
Thousands were left homeless - the worst affected states being New South Wales and Victoria.
Meanwhile, a little-known respiratory virus emerged - many believe - from a live animal market in Wuhan, China. There is no known cure or vaccine.
The current global death toll is more than 700,000. The infection rate is surging towards 19 million. Back in Victoria, the state is now fighting its "public health bushfire", with Melbourne in a stage 4 lockdown.
The US is leading the world in Covid-19 deaths and infections and has, in my view, an idiot in office, clearly out of his depth, who is more interested in his popularity than the health of his people.
Brazil, where Covid-19 cases and deaths are second only to the US, has a president who is sick with the virus and is burying its dead in mass graves.
Now, Beirut has been devastated by an explosion so huge that it ripped across the capital and so far has killed more than 130 people and injured 5000.
Hospitals were overwhelmed — one that was damaged in the blast had to evacuate all its patients to a nearby field for treatment.
Lebanon is already on the brink of an economic collapse and with this explosion, there is now concern about food and goods exports through the port where the explosion happened.
The suffering on a global scale is unimaginable, yet people are still fighting over whether their rights are being trampled on by being made to wear masks.
The year of the rat has become the year of the dumpster fire, in my view, however, the Chinese horoscope says "during the second half of the year, the health of the Chinese zodiac signs will be much improved, their energy and zest for life coming back in full force".
Let's hope this turns out to be true.
