The Australian Bush Fires.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3614, 27 January 1906, Page 3

The Australian Bush Fires.

GREAT EOSS OE LIFE,

AN HEROIC SCHOOL ■ TEACHER.

Melbourne, Jan. 25

A bush fire started at Torra in Gippsland on Tuesday night to the west of the township. It swept “round the Hoddle Range, devastated a stretch of timbered country and destroyed many homesteads. The new Methodist Church was burned, and the State school is in flames.

In sweeping up the road the fire overtook six children named Lonsdale, whose ages ranged from , three to thirteen years. The smoke suffocated them before their mother’s eyes. Other children on the road from school became bewildered by the blazing country and smoke. They rushed towards the fire and fell Into the flames. . In one case a mother managed to save her baby, while the, eldest daughter, aged 17, was saved through getting into a creek during the fire. Great courage and resource was ( shown by a State school teacher who placed 18 children under wet blankets and saved them all. Standing amid suffocating smoke and flames, he kept throwing water over his charges until the "" fire had passed. The bridge over the Agnes river caught fire and is still burning. The flames leapt through the • carriage windows of the mid-day • ■ train to Melbourne. Two more bodies have been found. • They are those of two married men named Swan and Crisp. Several families are still missing.

FOURTEEN DEATHS. BRAVE ATTEMPTS AT ~ ' RESCUE. A FIRE-SWEPT WASTE. , * Hundreds of setters are home- ; less between Foster and Welshpool in -Gippsland. Owing to the destruction of the telegraph lines it is difficult to r gat, particulars. ■>- The fire swept the country with appalling rapidity, annihilating farm houses, outbuildings, stock ;juJ Crops, and cutting off in many

oaoes the avenues of escape for the settlers. At WOomam West the corps of an invalid named Williams Was found lying hi the centre oi the rood. Two settlers were attempting to carry the man to a place of safety when the fire came roaring down on them. They struggled' on. Their difficulties j were added to by the struggles of, the sick man. The bearers made a desperate fight to save his life, i but the time came when they had to abandon him and fight for their own lives. They managed to reach a place of safety. No living thing could stand the heat unprotected. Animals dropped dead and withered before the fiery blast. Twenty men, women and childred crowded into a four-roomed house at Perry. All were more or less scorched by the heat.

The death roll at present is fourteen.

AN AVAFANCHE OF FIRE. MOST TERRIBFE EVER KNOWN. FFAMES A HUNDRED AND FIFTY FEET HIGiF Old residents of South Gippsland, who have had many experiences of bush fires-, describe the present outbreak as the most terrible-they have ever witnessed. While not so widespread as the great fire-of 1898, nor as destructive of property, it transcends all others in the appalling loss of life and the awful swiftness it swept over the country. It rushed over farms and clearings in an avalanche of fire, the flames shooting one hundred and fifty feet high. It licked up forests of giant trees and dense scrub like magic. It was only a providential change of wind that saved the township of Foster. Mr Clemson, president of the Shire Council, had a thrilling experience, and it is typical of many others. He was working some distance from his house, when he saw a wall of fire bearing down on him. He rushed home, blit the flames had hold of the homestead almost before the inmates could get out. Eight took refuge in a galvanised tank, and, with the aid of wet managed to survive the fier3 r ordeal, although stock were dropping dead with the intense heat.

A BRAVE ITALIAN

THIRTY-TWO HOMELESS FAMILIES.

Melbourne, Jan 26

A family named Clemson was saved from the bush fires largely by the heroism of Clavarino, an Italian. When the house, which was contiguous to a tank, took fire, he repeatedly extinguished the flames, although at each effort his own clothes ignited, The heat became so intense that the women became histerical and had to be forcibly restrained from running straight into the flames. The fire is still burning in the valley of Little Frankland, In one instance a whole family was saved through taking refuge in a well.

Thirty-two families are homeless. These are authenticated but there must be others as it is difficult in the chaos that exists to get reliable news. The body of a man named Butler has been found. He was overcome when trying to reach his relatives’ residence.

Round Daylesford the farmers are constructing fire breaks. It is feared that if the wind freshens the fire will come westward. A man named Lafranconi was severely burned, and died. At Nargon the eucalyptus distillery was completely destroyed. At Mortlake an army of 800 men was engaged all day fighting the fire.

Along the roads heaps of dead stock are to be found.

GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE.

The Government is sending ,£iooo to relieve the immediate necessities of the sufferers of Gippsland.