AN INCIDENT OF THE BUSH FIRES IN VICTORIA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1252, 26 February 1886, Page 3

AN INCIDENT OF THE BUSH FIRES IN VICTORIA.

A narrative which has few special features beyond others to excite he benevolence of the colony, but which is a fair sample of o hers, is that of the Monk family, who lived on Curdie’s River.' Mrs Monk is a slight. small woman of a’>ont fOyeusof age,who one jwotvd hardly think li ve been capa le of the fortitude and endin’nice which she manifested during one of the most lining exoeri ncrs which couM test any woman’s self-possession and resolution Her story is vouched tor hy the attendant circumstances, hy the ruins of her home, the sufferings of the childien and the testimony of the neighbors who give the unfortunate woman relict. Mrs Monk who was found with hnr children at the residence of a Mis Scanlon near Cohden, nearly thirty miles fiom where she was burnt out, said: ‘ My husband, William Monk, had I*o acres on Curdle River. He selected them about five years ago and worked on the land when he had money, l.ast siimm°r he put up a shing e and slab two-momed bouse, and took me and the children down to live there To get a garden we cut some scrub in the front of the house ready for burning, but wo did not set fire to it, for fear ot burning the neighbours out. My husband got a job of fencing at Wm Scanlon’s, and was away when ih i fire came. I was afraid of the fire all Monday night, as f hid seen the smoke coming our way. As soon as I got up on Tuesday I heard the timber crack 1 ing nt far fiom the. hj use It ""as a fearful bnt day and the wind was coming through the ctee.s. I got the childr n out of their beds as quick as I could but hj d not time to dress tlvnii. There were five of them, from a fortnight up to 13 jeers of age Clara, two and a half years obi, could not stop to put her boots on when we started to run to Mrs Pascoe’s, our nearest neighbour in the direction away from the lire The flames were very fierce, and great lumps of hark and rubbish were blowing high in the air and setting pla:es alight a long way in trout in the direction of our house. My eldest girl carried the baby j the boy had another sister in his arms; and I had Clara in mine. The trees were coming down upon us all round, when we met Mr Wm. Gubbin’s man running to save ns. He smarted to burn a patch, blit had only got a piece cicalas big as the floor of this kitchen, wlv-n the fl-imes swept past and scorche 1 ns. Cisav, a child of about 18 months, was burned all overon the neck, thighs, legs, and feet Clara had her feet burned so th it the akin dropped off h-r. heels and toes, and Mrs Tweedie has got if. in a paper now. Clara cried out that she was burning on the hot limestone. I told her she would make me ill if she cried and then she stopped and did not cry any more. T he heat was fearful. The children had their tongues hanging out, and I thought the baby which was g taping, would die every minute, 1 saw some water in a gully and Mr Gubbin’s man brought some to his hut for the children which saved them. After the fire had passed us we stayed ont on the clear patch for a time, and then I took the children back homo.

The elder boy end girl, carried their aiateix as they had done before The house was burned to a cinder and everything that was in it. Mr Guhbin’s man went to get some food for it was now afternoon, and none of ua>%ad had anything since the night before. The children no sooner got back where the house had been than they fell ex hanstcd, and I watched to keep the hot ashes from fal 1 1 ng on them. When it was. getting dark I thought [ would try and reach Mrs Tweedio's. as the fire was in the direction of Mrs Pasooe’s. The help Mr Gnhbin’s man had gone for did nob not come till after we left, and it was 10 o’clock before we got to Mrs Tweedie’s, and the children got something to eat. They were in a very bad xtate, and for nights after they kept starting in their sleep and calling out ‘ Mother, we are in the fire.’ It was no wonder they were frightened, for all the time the, forest was burning It was nearly as black as night with smoke and the branches kept tumbling off the trees and neat ly crushing us The baby was kept well wrapped up in a shawl, and was only vcorhed on the neck, but all the other children except the eldest boy were badly burned.” These burns were shown to me, and the feet of the girl Clara, who is still in bed, presented a sickening sight- The family have not been visited by a doctor, but th“ people of Oobden hj -ve done all in their power for the sufferers. Some lades have vo unteered as nurses, but there is a 1-ick of medical comforts and the children are becoming very thin and debilitated for want of them. The family have been left quite destitute, except for the labour of Monk’s hands.