HOMESTEAD GUTTED

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29909, 24 August 1962, Page 13

HOMESTEAD GUTTED

Glenthorne Station

The homestead on the Glenthorne station, near the junction of the Wilberforce and Harper rivers, several miles to the west of the head of Lake Coleridge, was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Tuesday. The station manager, Mr L Askew, and his wife and two children, a girl, aged six. and a boy. aged four, escaped and managed to salvage most of their possessions. The outbreak occurred shortly after midnight when a candle in a bedroom set light to a curtain. The flames spread up into the thatched roof, which was covered by iron.

Mr Askew had gone to shut down the diesel motor which drove the electricity generator. Mr and Mrs Askew tried to put out the blaze with extinguishers and pots of water but the flames had too great a hold in the dry thatch. They snatched up their sleeping children and carried them to the front gate still wrapped in blankets. They were later placed in a car.

As soon as Mr Askew’ saw that he would be unable to extinguish the fire alone he telephoned Mr E. Porter, a gatekeeper at the Harper river hydro settlement, about three miles away. He and another man helped Mr Askew salvage blankets, sheets, a china cabinet and four chairs. They had about 20 minutes before they were driven back by the flames. Mr and Mrs Askew and their children were given accommodation at Mr Porter's home for the night. They are now accommodated in the shearers’ quarters, about half a mile from the homestead. The old house was destroyed in a spectacular blaze and little remains except the sod walls. Outbuildings, except for the storeroom and a dairy attached to the house, were not damaged. The homestead was about 24 miles from the Lake Coleridge settlement. It was not the original homestead on the property.