WESTERN AUSTRALIA DISASTROUS FLOODS GREAT DESTRUC TION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY UNKNOWN. FURTHER PARTICULARS

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVIII, Issue 1609, 17 September 1862, Page 4

WESTERN AUSTRALIA DISASTROUS FLOODS GREAT DESTRUC TION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY UNKNOWN.

FURTHER PA RTICULARS

Thf Hood with which we hue been vi-ited within the last few days 1-, wo b.heie, unpieiedented in the histoiy of the ci)ldii> We have heiid it asse ted b> some of the earh '-etllus tint tin, ilood which ocemied in the veai lbjii, was as hi_rh a« tin- picsuitone it not highoi li.it there seems to be mJui upon which to giuuml this as-eition , .it le.v-t none th.io wo are anaic of Tne iniount of i' image, however, done dining tli<? pie«ent immd uion, mint f.u exceed anj thing of the kind pieviously lecouled, and the heavy losst-s, both on piiblu nnd pnvate account, ai'd-'d to the saciificc of life ami piopiitv will, we fea\ be se\eii.h and piopoi tionateh cmbaiia-simr, looking at the alteied ciicum-tance-. of the colony, and the gieat jho^uis inndf in the undei takings of individuals ami the goioinnunt Up to the pie^eiit tini 3 inimtron-< icpoits of di^asteit" ha\e 1 cached us fiom all t-ule's In the l'nniedi vte ueighbi uihood of oui inetiopoli 1 - ue can spe ik tioin pei-onal observation Foi t-ome days th*. Ctu^ewav .it Perth Flats his bfun entncl> under watei, and nothing was i>t one time vi-ible thi re but the cenhe poition of the planking of the hi>t bridge: on Su ula\ last the watei 10-e to inch a height tint it was found nece--11V to lemove the powder fiom tlie ini?niine n<ar tint locality Fiom the dn-eway to Mount Elizi all the if.irdens with nvir fiont ige weie nioie 01 less uudu w itei, and much v dinble piopeit\ his been d(-tio\cd At the ieai of the ut\ thei- has been out vast like, ir.uden-, and m main cas.es houses, King eompleteh within Us influence During tlie piH week the 'Lidy Nteilim*' lias l.n dccl her pas ;- i-. chwe alon^-,,de tlie Piei Hoti '. Tlie prm cipil jetty has been compltt Iv undu wa l ei, anfl nothniir to maik its Hte but the ciare at the end J'lomthe ji tt\ to Alount JZlva Depot tn- loid ha-, teen almost entnely c<>\eied, md much injmy mu-t be cn'-tii to the uoik m ])io<fie'-B on it In tint piit of th' Swan Estu n > cninpii-in<r Puth and Mthille itc~. the flood leached it-> lu^hc^t point ib 'Ut tv o p m on .Snndi\ afternoon it-, ppipciuhculu ii'-e th ii alien c the u-ui il water level ma\ be -taken at s' leu f^.'t a- lucisund at the lv ad of the Peith Jettx To "Hi oi'i icide'is < <i>iii» id' iof the cnoimoiis .»< cuinul ition ot witei m the cstuiiy, we urn state tint thi. .vrea occupied b\' Peitli and Melville Waters .w laid do'wi m thy ini|n of the onne^ ofhee, is i, r i in ,v, 7,10 l) acies, o\rr all of which the ihi. of n\oi te«t took pi ice, but, in addition, we have to 1 1 1 ' into coii'-idention the Iar o 'e r\tent of low Hnd, In'- King abo\o the u'-ii.il « atn lc\el, wlucli was also C'» sed to a diptli of scwial f < 1 1 All the witti i Jim- accumulated ha> been the (fleet of the heavy i i'iii v\lnoh have f dleu dining the last month, as it is ipiiiions fit t tb^t nofcv ith'xt iinlnii; tbe Liei\y \miii s v Inch !me pr< vaili d between noith and west, blow•njf li^ht into the mouth of the cstnaiv, the sea ontfi f ha. been uuii«ali\ low, and thee was, con«ecpit iitl>, nothing to pre\mt a freu cgie-isof the water hoin the ntei and the fiesh watei lan out, with giraf force .uid its com so was to be noticed far out towards Cui"u The flood miint un<-(l its hulie-t Licl until ibonfc 10 pin on Kundiy, when a Hlight ebb winin.nerd and continued untd Wedncsd ly lnoinmg, the fa'l being about one foot , n leaction then commenced qiioWV'U oniii^ to spiin^ ti U-> ha\ing <ct m outside\ in 1 \estmda\ moinini; the watci had n-en se\eial niche- and was still ii,mg fast At Xoith FiOinintlo the whole of the pensioneis' cottig-sanil dlohnent-. have been and aie Htill unilci w itu but fiuthir than that, cither thcie or at Fie ni"atli. itse'f, we liave heaid of no disasteis , the cclliii m the lowct pait of the town aio full of watu, and it is to be fca ed that m '11 pmbalnlitv its di"-ap pr nance will b" followed b, a consuleiable amount of '.irk.n ••& Hanpih the ' Koi woorl'.md ' Maty Haiusou,' which are both King in the much maligned Gage's Hi>ads, li .ye lode out in safety the fiuioim q dcs which hive occuiicd The foiniei ship his been cleared out and ready for foi seveial days pvst The ' Kestiel' is also King at Gairle'i I-laml leadv for «di Tlie fl its on the. .n ,i ! iove Perth hae foi vome time been flooded, the luidge om r the ITckna has bey n covuied over the top Kills, and the Cmseway liad m pa-ts b twecn seven and eight feet of water upon it; the only mean-, of communication was by a mndl boit belonging to Mi Y><- Leech the mail contiaetoi, and th't w.is on Fudiy the means of saving the lives of lJie-,'-e,l J ie-,'-e, of the police, .md a constable who in tiving to get acioss on hoiseback weie swept by the ennent down among the tiees o'ltlicflit and must inevitably have pen^hed but for tin 1 tinvly aid of thf> boat At btrellev. the hou-.e and outliiiddings on the faun occupied by Mr SumniM-. hue been cnliielv swept away, and unfortu li'iU-lv, ne-ailyall his fm nitiue and effects; the horse« v.eie only got out of the bam just in tm.e to bivu them; it was foi timate that it happened duiinir th; *l.i>, or pioliably the whole family would ha\e been lost. From Yoik we hear that both bridges are stdl founding, but aieraueh damaged; that neai the clcpflt is bylieicd to have snttered only in the loss of the side rails, but the injmy to the southern one could not be .isccitained. Tlie uatei "wa.t i tinning stlong the maiiifitiect, in which people were conveyer! about upon a raft The tngiiif rooinß at both PaiUer'a and Meires'B nulls had four feet of writer in them. At Mr Seymour Me lies' the height of the Hood was ascertained to be two feet more than that in 1847. Th© houses and farm buildings of the following settleis are stated to be either pat tially or totally destroyed, or undei watei : — Messrs J Lott, Quartermaino, M. Oliver, C Horn, Mont, Kinderland, and many nmall house- along the side of the river ; and aleo in and about York, where also the old Police quarters and fctables have been washed down, but ]iv>nilv an jet there is no report of auy loss of life about there. At Korthara the bridge over the Avon has been ccmplet< ly swept away, and there and on the road to Newcastle, the following damage is reported : Wilding s hotel partly under water, Mr. Chidlow's old h .use and mill gone down the river, Ainsworth'u new

hoiibe partly destroyed, constable Wisbey'n house said to l>e gone, and hn fnuiily compelled to take lefuge in Noitham Cliuicb ; Mr. Cooke's mill under water, Messrs. Dodd, Johnson, and Board's houses totally destroyed ; Glen Avon liouho undei watei ; those of Messrs Bioad and Hauphton partly ; Messis. King and Readei'i. totally. On Satuiday, opposite Millaid's a. man, name unknown, vvas been, floating down, tlio liver, calling out for assistance, but none could be tendered, and the poor fellow doubtless t>oon pennhed. At Newcastle, the budge acioss tho Avon ih entirely gone, and many persona who happened to be theie fiom Tooday aie separated fiom their homes, a '•mall boat and a inft have been got rt.idy, but cannot bo used as the cm rent i« too stiong to allow of their being got ados* without a guide lope, which aKo thore Is no means of getting over, as although two men attempted to swim across, tliev weie both swept away, and had a nanow eßcape from losing thtir lives. Going towaids the Southern Districts, the fiist misfortune repotted to be met with is the destiuetiou of the Canning Bridge ; in this instance the damage commenced by the giving way ot the appioaches, anil wo believe the centre has since followed. Two men who attempted to cioss on hoiseback on Fiiday lust, aie said to have been swept down, theii horses afterwards swimming ashore, but the tinth of this leport lias not been ascei tamed. No full account of the state of the iSouthciu distikts cvi be ijiveii, and ill mail communication has ceased, tbe Haney bridge being c.micd awn_\, and the m.iil cmiei in endea\ouiii>g tociosn the nvei theie on his way to Peith, is '•lid to ln\o ha<l a n.urow escape, only getting oft' with the loss ot two hoisus and :v mail The Mamhiiiuh Feny flat i< d.uniged and the load and countiy for si\ or seven uiilos In foie getting to Bunlmry is nothing but a sheet of water At Bunbuiv manj buildings including the Commtssaiuit stoic lie undei watin, and the countiy between theie and the Ya«*c is inuiulated, and many settleis have been dihen to take refuse in Bihibuiy. Mr. \V. P Clifton hail five feut of water in lm house. The lull of i.iin dining the past six weeks lias been, as may bu supposed fiom the floods, probnbh unprecedented. A ifgiitw kept by Mi. G. Clifton, at Fiemantle, and of which we have been kindly fin nishid with i copj, fiom the Ist June up to the 9th instant, exhibits .1 total of \ery neuilj 16" indies, of which 14 ha\e fallen within little moie than tluee week". All tins calamity comes upon the colony at a time when it is but ill able to cope with it. Four of our principal bridges, tw o of which ha\ c been only lately finished, aie completely swept away, and to restore them will probably cost £3 000, tho funds which should have been available for the purpono, have betn swallowed lip m the cxtiawignnt expenditure of Governor Kenned), who not only '•auctioned undertakings which swallowed up the sin plus in the colonul chest, but aKo deeph, inoitgaged the ie\enue which Go\ernor Hampton ••hould ha\e found fuo to apply to such public w oiks as he might think necessan, or to mch conting-ncies as the picsent, as might .mse But th 3 loss computed in the destitution of the budges nmy be taken as nothing jin comp.u ison w itli that su->taimd by pi i\ ate individual — the nuiiieious fan dies made hoiwlc^ the l.nge amount of ciops destioj'ed the bieadth of land l.iid waste, that which the inclemency of the w either and its thorough soakins;liiis tendered it hopeless to attempt to sow , and the consequent lo" of at least u third of the ciops all oiei the colonj all those arc the losses which will liem most heauly upon u=, and winch it will take y< ais of pitient industry on tho part of the sottlus to recover from. We lnvo a«}'otonh the first instalment of iccounts of liiiltviduil los'-ct, wliat the\ will eventually pio\e to be. God only knows,, but »uffioient has aheady b. tn i"~cci tamed to make in tremble for the result But we in.'iy not fe.u foi the futuic ; the indomitable coinage mul the pei«e\ciance of the settled will enable tin in to tininiph over tlun dirHrult.eß in as shoit a time as possible, and Wtstuu Austiahi will jet lie another pio<if of the tmth of the old maxim — " Pci icvi) antu< \inctt oinnin "

Tho same papei of the IStli >a,}s —We have but little to add to tht .iceouut wo g.ue in om last issue of the i.v itro-> caused In the flood winch the colony has -.uffcied fiom tliuuiy thepist tottmght, and fiom which it is nou appaient no put of tlic occupied dis tacts Ins esc.ipul At Poith a decided reaction commented on NituuLiy last ami continued until Tuts-d-i} moi mm,', the totil fall fiom the gieatest height attuned, whuh was on the Oth instant, being about Once feet. The illeoL of the heavj rains which fe 1 on Mondaj e\ening and mucc, h now whowinet ltfat-lf, and the w \tei-. .lie igiin on tho lie It lias been asctit.uned by known inaiks at the Peninsula Faun that tho height (f tho present Hood exceeded that of IS3O by two feet Although the accounts fiom the Yoik and Toodyay distiicta aic sufficiently gloom} in their nanatives of tlio losiCb in crops and buildings, >\e liave as jot but small data upon ninth to found any estimate of what the probaUe tot il 10-s will amount to The liver at York had sonieuhat gone down on \Vcdne--d.u. ;ur! it wan ascertained tint both biidtfi'H h id coinpaiatnely Riif feie'd but little d.una^i 1, tli.it to the one neai Mr. Mongol's which is somewhat bout in the centre, being the most e\t<.'ii--He, but it i-> supposed it can be easily put to nijhtb V fatil accident occu rdd last week to a shtpheul namid liobeit^, who was diowned while attempting to ciohs Bl.md't Bu>"k. Tin- nunibu of houses swept a« ly m and about Yoik, has been ase^rtuiipd to be f..iu te'cii , Mi H al'iook, wlio- h\e» «i> t'l "f Bo n)i\.was put to a cunou» inconMniLiitu, h'-> eiidenceis situated on one bank of the mer, and Ins still;, on the oilioi, and to feed and water InB lioi-,-, h" I'id to go .i distance of twellt^ railed round Vt XoithiUn tlictoial loss in houses liab been Be\en ; \Visbe\ - hou~>o w s not dittio^td a^ lepoited Fioin Xewcistli «c hen th.it a means of tiosslug the n\er to Tooljaj has been obt lined by inoaiiH of .i raft, and no fuithci il.-asteis h.ue bi en npoitcd CoiiiininiK ati Dii with the Noitheru and Knuthein dlstlltt^ leimnib Mispi nded Piujanah has been entnely flooded by the Dandulup The new chinch had se\ei,il feet of witei m it and the harmonium completely destrojed Fuithei fouth we know nothing of Gitat appiehensions .ue enteitaintil of cxteiisi\e lo^c-i upon the CJieenoucjh Flats wliich bevii\lo\v, iiud it is fcateil that .it le ist thrte-fouitin ot the settlers theio will have lost not only their crops, but tin iv hoiihts.