We explore the politics of commemoration at the 10th anniversary of a catastrophic bushfire event to explore how vulnerability to the Other can set the terms for an ethics of commemoration. Through an interpretative analysis of interviews with fire-fighters at the time of the official commemorative event of the Black Saturday fires we respond to calls to better understand our ethical obligation to remember those whose lives are lost during catastrophic events. We draw on Levinas to theorise an ethics of commemoration. We argue that there are two aspects to a Levinasian ethics of commemoration. First, it involves recognising that an ethics of commemoration is a response to the unwilled address of the Other. Second, the address from the Other brings a responsibility to ensure that commemoration fosters a commitment to learn the lessons from past fires and to do things differently in the future.
