RED DUST

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18236, 3 November 1933, Page 5

RED DUST

STORM IN VICTORIA MARK LEFT IN EVERYTHING MELBOURNE, Oct. 26. When the northerly came roaring through the city and suburbs on Monday afternoon its red-dust content from the Nullabor Plains and inland parts of Australia was laid like a thin veneer of paint on streets, buildings, and moving vehicles. Some of it was carried away in the whirl of the vanishing wind to places beyond .the coast. Officials of the Metropolitan Bureau said that a large area on the floor of the Tasman Sea was covered with a red clay, which was very probably composed of the dust blown out from the continent of Australia. In some cases the dust had been carried to New Zealand, and had tinted the snow on the 60111116111 Alps. llust which fell in October, 1928, was stated by Dr. Kidson, of New Zealand, to bn still visible in 1930 in the snow on parts of the southern ranges. Previous falls in Victoria occurred in January and September of 1928 and August of 1929. The flrst storm will be well remembered, aft it occurred on the first! day of the month, and ushered 1 in the New Year with a billowy red mantle of gritty dust.

The nmouht deposited over Victoria on Monday was approximately 100,000 tons, of which about 30 tons to the square mile was laid down in the metropolitan area. The red dust is composed principally of silica and iron oxide, and in color is really a rusty brown or ochre. It travels on the winds through the upper air, and is eventually .bought to earth by falling Wifi, and leaves its mark oh everything it touches."