GREAT BUSH FIRE NEAR MARONG.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1099, 5 February 1872, Page 2

GREAT BUSH FIRE NEAR MARONG.

The Marong correspondent of the Bendigo Advertiser, 15th. January, states:—The most^extensive bush fire that has occurred in the memory of the oldest inhabitant of Marong has been raging in this district during the greater part of last week, nor is it yet entirely subdued! The starting point of tho conflagration appears to hare been somewhere near Myer's Creek, as a farmer who resides id the neighborhood states that the bush ■was burning there on the previous week, and conjectures that it had not been thoroughly extinguished on that occasion, but might have smouldered in some of the undergrowth until it was fanned into a blaze by a puff of wind. Others surmise that it was caused by some party preparing tea for their mid-day meal, or by a careless smoker dropping, a lit vesta ; but at all events, however caused, probability points at carelessness, and the result ought to act as a warning for the future. During the whole of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the fire raged with great virluehce near the Memsie line of reef, and advanced like some hungry monster, devouring all before it, and gaining fresh, strength as it fed oii the fuel that fed it in return— grass: blazing, bushes cracking, and trees falling as though all the bushmen about Bendigo were engaged in dropping timber for a wager. < The miners working on the Memsie reef had to abandon their claims, the heat being so intense, and the fire flying about so much that it was expected that the windlass and ropes would, have been burnt, besides which, strips of blazing bark were .falling in all directions, plentiful as flakes in a snow storm.. These men and ths neighboring farmers formed themselves into a little army to oppose the onward march of the advancing foe; but ever and anon as the enemy was re-, pulsed in one place would it still encroach in another, so that all their efforts had to be ultimately devoted to . prevent it spreading to the adjacent farms. This was providentially accomplished, although several families had to be" removed, and some of them were' very near losing their all.' Mr M. Mawson, the- storekeeper, was literally a, modern Moses in the burning bush, and had great difficulty in saving his premises. His spring cart was got in readiness for instant departure ; however, with/the: assistance of the; miners, he. was, I am happy to say, saved from this extremity. . . The , scen<3 in .the bush on Wednesday night was grand and awful, and would just have suited Remr brandt. During the day it had principally been confined to the east of Mr Sterry's ground, but towards evening the wind sprang up, and carried, it in a more northerly direction, bearing well down towards Mr Landry's arid , Mr. Gooch's farms. (The former gentleman deemed it prudent to send his family to the township for safety.) Here, as night set in, a large body of men assembled, not only as onlookers but with the kindly intention of assisting any who might be in danger, and all ready, like good fellows, to run a little risk themselves in order to save others ; and well it was so, as, by adopting proper precautions, the fire was prevented from destroying several homesteads. AH night and the whole of the following day strips of blazing bark were borne through the air like meteors or rockets, and an army of pioneers sent in advance to clear a ; track for a host of invaders could not half so effectually have hewn their way. The poor wood-splitters will be great losers, by this ! calamity, many hundreds of tbno of their wood spilt and piled in the bushj.all readytobe carted away, having vbseri destroyed. Some of them were busy all day and night drawing the timber on to the line of reef, where, owing to . the {raffle,- the ground waß. more denuded of scrub and grass, and consequently regarded as beiug comparatively safe. By this means a deal of wood was saved that otherwise iriust have been burned ; but, notwithstanding, many hundreds of tons are turned into charcoal, and ashes. Up to Saturday night the fire was stiU unquenched, iind was headinglowards Mr Glover's arid' the police paddock fences. < !