Two people died on the island as the fire devastated the region. The bushfire destroyed more than 150,000 hectares of land in the area, including the well-known Southern Ocean Lodge.
According to News.com.au, bush pilot Dick Lang and his son Clayton were killed while they attempted to return to their family property, a statement from their family read.
But the Prime Minister was seemingly unaware.
On his visit to the island, he was caught on video giving thanks that no lives were lost in the blaze.
Shockingly, the fires have estimated to have killed some 500 million animals last week.
The number comes from a study from professor Chris Dickman. of the University of Sydney, whose findings are based on a 2007 report which estimated Australia’s wildlife density.
However, new reports believe the figure could almost hit the one billion mark.
Professor Dickman said the Huffington Post: “The original figure – the 480 million – was based on mammals, birds and reptiles for which we do have densities, and that figure now is a little bit out of date.
“It’s over 800 million given the extent of the fires now – in New South Wales alone.”
He added: “If 800 million sounds a lot, it’s not all the animals in the firing line.”
Charity World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has said that now more than 10.7 million hectares of land have been destroyed in the fires.
It works out to around the same spatiality as a third of the UK.
WWF Australia has called on people to donate emergency funds to wildlife charities.
Australian National University Professor Sarah Legge said to The Guardian that “many dozens” of animals species have been threatened or even in some cases lost because of the fires.
She said: “It feels like we have hit a turning point that we predicted was coming as a consequence of climate change.
“We are now in uncharted territory.”
Charles Darwin University Professor John Woinarski added: “The fires are of such scale and extent that high proportions of many species, including threatened species, will have been killed off immediately.”