Heat Wave in Australia.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 1, 6 January 1905, Page 3

Heat Wave in Australia.

TERRIBLE FIRES,

Sunday's reading at the Sydney observatory, which is usually five to 10 degrees cooler than the city, was .107.6. Only one warmer day has been recorded during, the last 46 years.

Disastrous; grass and bush fires are raging in the Riverina district, doing tremendous damage. Crops and homesteads have been swept away, and farmers' families: are taking refuge in the townships. Bands of. fire-fighters are striving to save' -property. Between Junee and Tumut an area of 50 miles by 30 is a seething mass of fire. Nearly all the farmers in the JAdelong distnct have been burnt out. The telegraph lines in all directions have been burnt.

.Five distinct 'fires devastated the country all round Gundagai for 9.Vdis'tarice of 15 to 30 miles. Very few settlers in the. area escaped either total or partial destruction. The losses .are estimated af tens of J thousands of pounds. Jfn' the Burrowa district over 2000 • sheep and other stock were burned. Maitland,' Goulburn,., and Murrumburrah xepor't that; tremendous fires are raging. There has been a vast destruction oi- -grass crops, and; manysettlers are ruined. .J.

Latest reports from .'.. Riverina state that . the fires are rapidly spreading. The -whole country between Gundagai, Adelongj Junee, and Wagga i's ablaze. Thirty thousand acres on Wantabadgery and Oura Stations weredeslroyedi.

The fire-fighters are having a terrible time. Whole.townships were engaged forJdays in a battle. Many are completely exhausted. Several unconfirmed reports are current of persons missing. The fires are still raging furiously for many miles round Gundagai. . A wide, area of grazingVan.dagficultural land has been devastated. The damage is estimated at hundreds of thousands. At Narandefa thousands of acres of grass and. miles of fencing have been burned. ' The Gro.nggrdng, Bundidgarie, and Buckingbong Stations at Cootamundra and the Muttamwira Estate havo been swept. J

There is -great heat .. throughout-^Vic-toria. Mildura topped the list with 12^ degrees . ; ;

J A drizzling rain has commenced in the city, and in . some: districts towards the Victorian borders; the foil is heavy, and .is checking the bush fires. ;-

One fire which started at Gundagai swept 150 miles square,: frbni Kiandra to. Wagga on the one sideband to.Mur--lumbu.rrah and-VabS oh the other.; /■•'

V The fires are more general. . and destructive than for tnanyj' ...years past.^ Many harrowing ''details; "a'reJ- : given by those suffering losses^ as well as narrow escapes by women and- children, Jwho saved themselves by "lying; in tanks, in water hole;-', and, in : the rivers, while their menfolk fought the flames.

The* Melbourne' express, -had. an exciting time on the; outward journey. The train ran for 50 miles through a fire raging furiously on both sides of the line near Mittagong, and Joh the return journey through 30 miles near Wagga. The passengers were almost suffocated by the heat, the. windows, having to be kept closed to keep out the smoke.

T.he damage at Kimo Station, where a biish fire was started by. two swagmen, is estimated at;^"ro,ooo. . • "