PHASES OF THE GREAT BUSH FIRES

Evening Star, Issue 12399, 12 January 1905, Page 4

PHASES OF THE GREAT BUSH FIRES

[From the Sydney ‘ Telegraph.’] „ For the past fortnight big fire has been burning through the Bed-hill country. Barrowing tales are reaching the town every hour. Roughly speaking, 150 miles square of country, from Kiaodra. ito Wagga on one side and Murrumburrah to Yask bn the other, have been devastated. Store than hail the settlors in this yasfc area of usually well-grassed country are affected, while a great many are. ruined. Nothing approaching this disastrous fire had ever before been recorded in this. port of the country. It stagnation, for years, and that hitherto prosperous settlers will have to fly to the nanks for assistance to relieve their troubles. Hundreds of miles of fencing have been destroyed. The whole cl the people are disheartened, as scarcely u man; is met from the country who is not v sufferer. The damage iu this district alone will reach several hundred thousand pounds. ‘ . —Some Narrow Escapes.—

On tho morning of December 31 a spark from a passenger train was responsible for the starting of a fire on Austermere Estate, recently purchased by Bros., of. Hill End. The fire raced over the estate' et tremendous ' speed, and levelled homestead and outhouses, despite the efforts of the large body of men. The proprietors were'rendered unconscious for a couple of hours from * the effects of the fire. , A' spark from the same train is said to have also caused an outbreak which occurred near Exeter. This fire spread, rapidly in an eastward direction, and after attacking Mr Bowyer Smyth’s residence nothing bat a mass of smouldering embers were left. Great anxiety was experienced when it was reported that the whole of Mr Smyth’s family were missing, and it was surmised they had perished in the flames. However, they were subsequently found lying in a waterhole on a portion of the estate, where they had sought safety from fire. Mr Smith attributes the saving of his wife and children to the heroic conduct of his housemaid, Miss L. Adams, who shielded them with her 'body as the flames leapt over and around them. The party, before leaving the house, provided themselves with buckets, from, which they drenched themselves with water in their place of refuge. An outbreak also occurred in a wide expanse of bush country between Fiteroy Falls and Moss Vale, occasioning widespread destruction. Mount Ashby, Mr Herbert Throsby’s residence, has been swept into its track, and is now a heap of ruins, together with J. Ginger’s, T. Webb’s, Elmwood Public School, J. Johnston’s, Jones, Prevost’s, W. A. Harrison’s, and G. Macanall’s.- The last-named family, who include Mr Maoanoll’s mother, aged 104, had a most trying experience, and narrowly escaped losing their lives. The house was situated close to the thick bush, and tho fire enveloped the place so quickly that they only had time to harness tho horse and get away. Mr Edward Vile/ of Gosforth, who was away from his home on the 31st, had to seek refuge in a waterhole. He was forced to remain in the water all night, having as companions wallabies and other bush animals.

At night time the fires presented a. spectacle of awful grandeur, the flames running up and down tall, trees with the rapidity of Eghtning. Tree trunks were enveloped in bright flame one minute, and then, dying out, the burning embers, fanned by a boisterous wind, glowed in the darkness like myriads of twinkling stars. The sight around Bulli after nightfall was one never to be forgotten, the whole mountain aide being brilliantly lighted, and for several hours bursts of flame from the dry clematis, blackberry bushes, and dense foliage flew hundreds of feet into the air, forming a magnificent spectacle. The mountain appeared about midnight as a huge city beautifully illuminated. Hundreds of people from all oyer the district flocked into Woonona, where the largest' part of the hush fire was raging, to witness the sight.

Mr James Yile, dairyman and vigneron, of Rosebrook, went out to look for bis dairy cattle, and was overtaken by tie fires, which compelled him to take refuge in a waterhok. He remained in the water all night, and saw scores of wallabies and birds enter to escape the fury of the flames.

At Narrandera, where the fire started on the rivor tank, the flames were so strong that they leaped across the Murrumbidgee River at several points, and people had to' take refuge in the nver to save themselves. —A Tough Fight.— Shortly after 9 a.m. on January 2 it was d.soovered that the Stoke Estate, about three-quarters of a mil© from Carcoar, was on fire. The flames were travelling in a furious manner towards the Stoke homestead, and townspeople were almost panicstricken, as it was recognised that unless a check was put on the fire most devastating consequences would be the result, as owing to the hot state of the buildings caused by the heat of the last few days fears were entertained that they would become ignited. Between 150 and 200 residents volunteered to fight the fire, but it was found that no possible human effort could combat the flames, as they were being driven in leaps and bounds by a westerly wind blowing at twenty miles per hour. Attention was then directed towards saving the Stoke homestead, outbuildings, and crops, and after two or three hours this was successfully accomplished. Between 1 and 2 p.m. the wind changed to the south, which had the fortunate effect of driving the outside of the fire into the main body of the flames, and thus men were enabled to again face the fire, and by 5 p.m. it was fairly well got under, and danger to the town was greatly reduced. Never before in the biriory of Carcoar have such fires been experienced. —Women'Help in the Fight.— The whole of the country on all sides of Mxttagnog was ablaze, and on the 30th the fire swept along the Mittagong Range and through the valley with great velocity carrying everything before it. Hundreds of townspeople and visitors worked hard day and night in order to save propertv, but despite every precaution hundreds of acres of grass, fencing, crops* and stabling were destroyed. The fire passed into Mr S. Hordern’s Retford Park Estate, crossed the road into Mr J. Shiel’s property, and, rushed down the mountain side amongst the Lower Mittagong farms. Every precaution possible was taken in the way of burning breaks and- removing fences, but the flames, fanned bv a fierce hot wind, swept down the mountain and settled in the valley m dense volumes. The fire reached to mthxn a few hundred yards of the heart of the town, where the women were compolled to assist the male ■workers to combat the flames. Towards. Joadja Creek a number of residents had to fly for their lives. Mr J. Iredale, employed at Joadja, was burned completely out, and his wife and children compelled to flee. Mr Iredale ( was endeavoring to save the company’s property, and returning to see hoW his family wore faring, found the house in _ mins—furniture, sulkies, and everything burned to cinders. The famous orchards were ruined. Several premises on the hill were burned, and the residents remaining moved what they could to a safe place and camped out. —Destruction of Church Property.— At noon on January 2 one of the most disastrous fires in the history of the Lismoro district occurred, when the Lismoro Convent, which consisted of two buildings containing forty large rooms, the procathedral, swimming baths, and a fiveroomed house adiqining, the pronerty of Mr Malcolm M’Kinnon, were all totally destroyed. The fire commenced at Mr M’Kinnon’s house, which is only separated from the convent by'2oft. A strong, hot westerly wind, was blowing at the time, with the shade temperature at 112deg. The flames, fanned by the wind, soon reached the convent, • which consisted of two' substantial buildings, one erected two years ago. These were soon a mass of roaring flames, rising to a height of 100 ft. The'cathedral next door also caught fire, and, the whole, within

forty-five minutes, were burnt 'to' th« groopd. ; Very Ultle'property'wim saved'' from the convent, but most of the Vest- - ments, sacred vessels, and seats 'were - saved from the prq l -eathedral> A splendid new pipe organ, purchased last year at a cost of £350, was lost, also five,pianos. Ihe town, possesses a splendid water supply/ a reservoir being near the convent but, through some unexplained l cause no water was available until the places wars in ruins, Ihe loss is; estimated at £B,OOO, about £6,000 of which was cohered by insurance, mostly in the Victpria Company. Bishop ' Doyle’s tWo- . storey residence was mainly saved by clamps of bamboos .and camphor ‘trees, which were burnt by the flames. -Among property destroyed was a magnificent Way./ There was no loss of life, though the Sisters had- a narrow escape. Tht convent was one of the best-equipped ip tpe State. It is feared that much damage has been done to the foundations of the now cathedral owing to the intense heat cracking the cement. Portions of the burning material ignited fences nearly half a mile away.

—lmpressions of a Railway Traveller— A passenger who arrived in . Sydney by the Melbourne express gavo the following account of the bush fires raging along, the districts: —" When we left Melbourne at . 3.40 on Saturday afternoon, December- 31, the weather was delightful, with a cool' sontherly blowing, but, .as we proceeded■ northward, it got hotter and hotter, especially when we got among some bush fires which -were' raging aboht Benalla. fit Al. bury we. were tmd that the country was ablaze farther on, but no one anticipated the awful nature of the conflagration. The heat grew mere and more intense as we progressed, and at last we got at the cause of it. On both sides of the line, as far as • the eye could see, the whole country was on fire. _ Now we rushed past miles of smouldering logs,' then through Mazing trees, with here and there a huger glow, indicating that a haystack was burning. Then a blackened patch showed wrere in the morning a field of grain had been standing ready for reaping, but had been licked up in a few minntes by the ahdevonring element. The sight was indescribably grand. Hidden for a moment as we whirled through a cutting, it burst out on our view, which was intensified when we emerged. Mile after mile wo saw nothing but flames. Here and there, near the line, stood' a, cottage, which must have needed heroic efforts to save it from the destruction which liad overtaken the fences, gardens, and outhouses. A blazing culvert glowed fiercely, and the irregular tongues of flames were occasionally traversed by straight lines of fire which showed where the fences had been. The heat was stifling, even with the mitigation of the comforts - of a sleeping car. When we pulled up we seemed to be in an oven. At Wagga, which we left on the stroke of midnight, we were assured that the thermometer then stood at 105deg, and we could quite believe it. Altogether it was an experience which none of tno'e who travelled by the express will ever forget or ever wish to repeat."