Bush Fires in Australia.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 11, 19 January 1870, Page 3

Bush Fires in Australia.

A corrosp'oridoitt of tho ft Marat S(ar W'fito's fronv the M.vllo'o So'riib: -Wo have had drought, we have had u ran of seasons bad in every Way, and now, to crown our. misfortunes, wo have had tho most extensive bush lire that lias ever boon known iu this part of Victoria. On Monday, a fire was seen in the large belt of malleo east of Like Albacutya, but as the runs in that quarter are' mostly Unoccupied, the lire did. not attract much attention. On Tuesday, the day being very hot, and a hot wind blowing, tho flames* travelled fast, and the smoke became dense. On Tuesday night a stream of fire, forty Or fifty miles wide, was rushing at a fearfully rapid rate across the country from east to west. By this time Messrs M'G-innis and Bell's fences* were reached, in spite of all efforts to prevent it. Now it raged with greater fury than ever, and so continued burning tha whole of Wednesday and Thursday. Messrs M'Ginnis have lost about fifty miles of fencing, and it was by the most strenuous exertions that the home station was saved. The fire was accompanied by a loud roar like that of breakers in a storm. Tho heat was so intense that no man could come within many hundred yards of the fiery flood : in that waterless region tho men who were labouring to turn or stop its course, fainted with heat and thirst, and some were carried home by their com-' panions raving and frantic. The loss of fencing, which has not long been erected at great expense, is of course very great; but the worst of it is that the material out of which fences could be made is all burnt, and How the country is to be enclosed again will be a problem hard to solve. Grass was scarce before, but now a very large extent of country is a blackened smouldering desert. It has been reported that three men who were fencing in that neighbourhood have been burnt, but I have no certainty as to the truth of the report, and it is to be hoped it is not true. Mr William Chace sends the S. A. Register the following account of the late bush fires on Yorke Peninsula :—About ono o'clock on the 20th a man living with him came in hurriedly and reported a large fire close at hand, and urged that unless the horses were got out, and a clear spaco ploughed round the paddocks, they would be burnt out. On going out to look, it was found almost impossible to stand, and quite impossible to walk. Just then the shed was blown down, nearly killing the writer's wife and eldest boy. Tbo storm ceased for a little, and with great difficulty two or three furrows were mado on one side of the land. His mate and he then worked for an hour or so in beatiii" - out the fire, when the former left to get a drink, and shortly after loud cries were heard from a cart. On running to it, Chace learnt that Mr Goldsworbhy's shepherd and his boy had boon burnt; and after starting in the cart, they met the poor fellow's wife and three children close to tho hut. All scoured the place in search of the man and boy in growing darkness, walking among the bodies of about 1800 dead sheep, when suddenly our informant stumbled upon the dead body of the poor , lad, completely roasted. At a little distance the father was discovered, quite naked, his clothes having been burnt oft', with the exception of his boots. The shepherd was not dead, so his body was plentifully bathed with kerosene ; but the injuries were too awful for the remedy to bo of service. He was conveyed to a place of shelter, and died in about an hour. It is believed that nothing could have saved the lives of the wife and her five children had the fire continued its course, but, providentially, the wind turned to the south about 5 o'clock. They are now at Mr Chace's house in a sad plight, having lost everything they possessed by the lire. It appears that during the height of the fire Mr Goldsworthy and his son had to jump off the cliff—a height of 18 to 20 feetinto the sea to save their lives. They remained np to their necks in the water for a long time, nearly choked with the smoke and heat. Their horse and cart went over the cliff; but the animal's life was saved, although the cart was nearly consumed.