Bush Fires in Australia.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3617, 3 February 1906, Page 3

Bush Fires in Australia.

Melbourne, Jan. 31. The township of Forster is surrounded by bush fires and I.la eatened with destruction. A fire brigade has been sent from Melbourne. A man was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment for carelessly throwing a lighted match and causing a grass fire. A RECURRENCE TAKES REACH.

Melbourne, Feb. 1. At the inquest on the children of Mrs Walsh it was stated that they had quarelled with their mother, who refused them a horse to return home. She started to drag a sulky home herself. The thermometer was 116 in the shade and they became exhausted and lost their way. The mother denied refusing the horse. [A message last week reported that Mrs Walsh and her two children lost their way in the smoke and heat when returning home. The children became exhausted and died and the mother was found demented.] Fires are again general. Great destruction of property has taken place causing much " suffering. Several townships are threatened. The latest report is that a change of wind saved the township of Foster which was threatened. Hobart, February 1. Bush fires have occurred in. all parts of the island. The city is enveloped in smoke. At Eombay a church, school, and dwelling were consumed. The residents are camped on the beach. SOME PARTICULARS. SIX CHILDREN CAUGHT IN THE FLAMES. : Australian files to hand Contain full accounts of the terrible fires which devastated Gippsland, Victoria, last week. The Age of January 25th contains the following particulars;— All the homesteads on Mt. Best were swept out of existence, as were the New Wesleyn Church, the State school and the school teacher’s home. It was near the State school, which is built on the side of Mt. Best, that the terrible fatality, whereby six children lost their lives, occurred. The fire, narrates our correspondent, swept over the

_ -fountain and clown the side before was realised what had occurred. Morning school had been dismissed a short time previously, and those who had not carried their lunches with them were on their way home. Eye witnesses state that the fire suddenly rushed from the mountain top in one sheet ol flame, and then the whole of the mountain was ablaze. Amongst the children who were returning home was the family of Lonsdale, a widely known and respected resident of the district. Their mother, when the flames flew down the mountain side with such suddenness, ran in the direction whence she knew the children would be coming, and although burnt by falling branches and half blinded by the smoke, she was successful in finding them. Bewildered hy the fire they were • endeavouring to return to the school. Mrs Lonsdale seized them and placed them on the road, which was the only spot not on fire, although the flames were each side. The poor children became frightened at the awful spectacle around them, and ran terrified in the fire that taped up the road-side. The distraught yet heroic mother . rushed after them. She was successful in saving the baby, which had been carried by one of the younger children, but the others were either burnt to death in the flames or suffocated by the pungent smoke which was rollingdown the mountain side. The eldest daughter, aged seventeen managed to save hereself by cowering in the water of the creek, but these were the only two of the children who were saved. Their names and ages were: —

Olive, aged thirteen. Daisy Harriet, ten. Frances Howard, eight. Iris, five. Gertrude Rose, four. Claude Vincent, three. All the bodies were recovered The little girl Frances TF-wun. lingered in agony and died in the night. She was recently kicked by a horse, and had just returned from the Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. A pathetic incident of the terrible affair was that when the mother found the children, the little 3-year-old Vincent was clapping his hands and saying, “What a pretty fire!” Great courage and resource were shown Vale, the State school teacher, who placed 28 under wet blankets, and saved most of the children. A Miss Douglas Ga-.:o ■■.. Covered several with blankets, and rushed through the flames for water. The origin of the fire is not

positively known, bnt it is supposed that the very hot winds experienced here on Tuesday morning stirred the smouldering fires that had been lighted during the previous wek in the Mount Best 1 district. The funeral of the Lonsdale children was \ T ery impressive, six bodies being interred in one grave, while the father stood by, blind, ; bandaged, and weeping bitterly. j Last of Toora another fire I started, and swept in a wall of; flame 100 feet high through the! Agnes River on to the back of the Welshpool. Many old residents say that they never in a long Gippsland experience isaw such a magnificent sight.