Part Two: Channel and Huon
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PART TWO CHANNEL AND HUON BLACK TUESDAY 50TH ANNIVERSARY V1 - MERE01Z01FC FEBRUARY 7, 1967, was a day of drama, heroism and tragedy that quickly came to be known as Black Tuesday. The most deadly bushfires Tasmania has ever experienced blackened a swath of the island state, leaving 64 people dead, 900 injured and more than 7000 homeless. Some 110 separate fire fronts burnt through 260,000 hectares of southern Tasmania within the space of five hours. Nearly 1300 homes and more than 1700 other buildings were destroyed, and the damage bill amounted to $40 million – nearly half a billion dollars today. One of Australia’s worst natural disasters, Black Tuesday became the yardstick for When these three cars were parked near the carbide factory at Electrona on the morning of February 7, 1967, there had every other Tasmanian bushfire, as well as been a house there to shelter them. This sign was all that remained of St Mary’s Catholic Church the standard by which threatening bushfire at Snug. seasons are judged. To mark the 50th anniversary, the Mercury presents this five-part magazine series, with archival images, retrospective articles and interviews with people who lived through the disaster. Special thanks to Roger McNeice, the Margate, Snug Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Tasmania Fire Service, Geoff Harrisson, Rex Maddock, Jim Marwood, the late Marjory and Colin Woolford, and the family of the late Don Stephens for their assistance. and Electrona Some of the images are being published for the first time, and we welcome your assistance in adding names and details to the Roger McNeice Frosts Rd, was Mrs Fyfe’s house, which began to catch unidentified images featured in these on fire. It wasn’t long before she came out, and began to walk quickly along the road to her son’s house, booklets. FIRE burning on a front of several when we called to her, ‘It’s too dangerous, come down Email [email protected], phone kilometres on both sides of the road arrived here for safety’, which she did. It was obvious by the at Margate about 10.30am on February 7, Damian Bester on 6230 0736 or write to amount of billowing smoke coming from our 1967. Despite frantic firefighting, fierce properties that the inevitable would happen. Mercury Pictures of our Past, Level 1, Awinds hampered attempts to save properties. “About that time a series of explosions came from 2 Salamanca Square, Hobart 7000. Ray Meredith used wet potato sacks to help his our property. Immediately we could feel the heat as father, Ted, fight a fire on Hopfields Rd, before going four 44-gallon drums of fuel, delivered just the week to check on grandparents Bob and Clare Hazell. before, blew up and ignited their contents in Many knew fear that day Damian Bester After helping to contain a grass fire there, Mr SERIES EDITOR the air as it was carried away. We later Meredith decided to return to his parents’ home at learnt that this fireball landed on the Fish and, in beating it, gained Frosts Rd to check on his mother. Canneries at the Margate wharf and set “As I was about to drive through the gate a stack them on fire. new self-respect of drying timber – used to make apple cases – was “In time, when most of the fires around on fire. One minute later it would have been had died down, and any danger had impossible to get through,” he said. passed, we three walked along Frosts Rd to “I jumped out of the car, ran to the back door Noel and Francis Fyfe’s house, which of the house to check on Mum, but on escaped the fire. We then returned to our opening the door I was met with a wall property to survey the damage. All of smoke. Feeling that things were buildings were destroyed. Sadly we had heating up around the house and all lost the lot, but thankfully we the sheds, I just knew it was time to were saved.” get out of there. The Hazell family’s large “I headed up through the young Hydro and Telstra staff worked like trojans to restore destroyed power and telecommunication poles such as this one at stone homestead was gutted, Margate. orchard towards the top dam, and several tractors and where I found my mother with her farm equipment were Bible and a few possessions, down destroyed. Nearby, the house of near the water. Dr. W. Bryden, of the Tasmanian “She had made a wise choice. We hugged each other and sat Electrona resident Mr E.F.H. Lewis there to wait it out. Not much was fought helplessly as his home burnt said – we both realised nothing more down, at one stage laying over his could be done. “Not far from the dam, just across wife to protect her from the encircling flames. 02 HOBART MERCURY / SUNDAY TASMANIAN, Tuesday, February 7, 2017 MERE01Z01FC - V1 2 BLACK TUESDAY – Part 2 : Channel and Huon BLACK TUESDAY – Part 2: Channel and Huon 3 When these three cars were parked near the carbide factory at Electrona on the morning of February 7, 1967, there had been a house there to shelter them. This sign was all that remained of St Mary’s Catholic Church at Snug. Museum and Art Gallery, was also destroyed. Power poles lay over the Channel Hwy and burnt- out cars sat smouldering. The petrol station at Margate was razed but, miraculously, the fuel was not affected. Right next door to the service station a house lay in ruins. The homes of E. Worsley and J. Burgess suffered the same fate. All along the highway the ruins of housesMargate, Snug stood stark. Late in the afternoon, the town of Snug bore the brunt of the fire, with 80 homes, shops, churches, farms and mills burnt down. The school was very badly damaged. The town was described as looking like an atom bomb had struck it. Local resident, the late Bill Holmes, stood with a and Electrona reporter from the Mercury the day after the fire and quietly counted the men and women he knew who had been killed in the blaze. “There wasn’t a thing we could do. There was no water … I think the pumps at Margate burned out. But if you had a million gallons you could never had stopped it,” he said. Phyl Norton remembers putting her infant daughter into a pram and seeking refuge at the Snug school. “That trip to the school, only a few hundred yards Many knew fear that day and, in beating it, gained new self-respect away, was a walking nightmare – swirling smoke flying, burning debris, the cars everywhere, lights full on, desperately trying to get through,” Mrs Norton said. “Every breath hurt now – the smoke rasped in our lungs and throats – our eyes streamed and the terrible wind seemed intent on stopping us. For the first time in my life I felt fear, the deep fear that starts in the pit of Hydro and Telstra staff worked like trojans to restore destroyed power and telecommunication poles such as this one at the stomach and can so easily rise up to become sheer Margate. panic. Many knew fear that day and, in beating it, gained new self-respect and inner strength.” beach area of Snug. We didn’t know then, but people from the flames, heat and smoke, but from crashing Mrs Norton said it was a relief to get to the school were dying, and whole streets of houses were burning power and telegraph poles and sheets of roofing iron and find all the children, including her sons, singing in down there. and other debris that knifed through the smoke, unseen the assembly hall. “The next few hours were an ordeal “To be so completely helpless was probably the worst ’til too late.” of waiting and watching and wondering,” she said. Electrona resident Mr E.F.H. Lewis of all – there was literally nothing we could do. Among the vividfought memories helplessly that as remain his home with burnt Mrs “From the windows we watched the flames – all “Once the fires descended into Snug, from all Norton, the school headmaster and staff stand out, around us now. Visibility was down, most of the time to down, at one stage laying over his directions, no-one could stop them. remaining calm so the childrenwife to protect would hernot from panic. the a few feet, but as the wind suddenly changed we could “Those not in shelter risked injury or death, not only Continued over the page get a glimpse of the wall of flame that was the lower encircling flames. V1 - MERE01Z01FC HOBART MERCURY / SUNDAY TASMANIAN, Tuesday, February 7, 2017 03 2 BLACK TUESDAY – Part 2 : Channel and Huon BLACK TUESDAY – Part 2: Channel and Huon 3 The desolate scene at Snug, where 80 houses were Volunteers at the emergency centre in the Snug school sorting clothing for the hundreds left homeless by the fires. destroyed and nine people died. From previous page Snug school after it was finally evacuated. The town church were burned down and several families lost “The windows became too hot to touch and many was showered with burning debris and strong winds, everything. blew in; the safest place became the floor – despite the which blew showers of sparks in every direction. The Carbide Works at Electrona caught fire and broken glass. It was cooler and much easier to breath When the main fire passed, it looked like the school several nearby homes were destroyed.