THERMOMETERS BURST DURING AUSTRALIA’S HOTTEST DAY IN 1828

When the temperature reached a blistering 53.9°C. Back before man-made climate change was frying Australia, when CO2 was around 300ppm, the continent savoured an ideal pre-industrial climate….RIGHT? Is this the kind of climate we are spending $10 Billion per year to get back to? We are told today’s climate has more records and more extremes than times gone by, but the few records from the early 1880’s are eye popping….    Australia Hottest Day 1828

Fire Rages in Tree Tops

111 years later on the 13th of January 1939 we had Black Friday when the the temperature reached 44.7 degrees Celsius in Melbourne, and 47.2 degrees Celsius in Mildura with very low humidity levels. Narbethong, Noojee, Woods Point, Nayook West and Hill End were completely destroyed by the fires.

The Victorian bush fires on Black Friday, were the culmination of several years’ drought in the state, following by high temperatures and strong winds. These conditions fanned several fires – some of which had been burning since early December – into a massive fire front. Fire swept over the mountain country in north-east Victoria, and along the coast in the south-west.

Smoke covered Victoria; approximately 75 per cent of the state affected by the fires to some extent. Despite the number of fires burning and the severe conditions, some bushmen and graziers lit additional fires in an attempt to protect themselves – only for these fires to get out of control and spread.

On 8 January, two people had died in the Toolangi State Forest. By Monday 9 January, fires were burning in Dromana, Arthurs Seat, Frankston, Dandenong Ranges, Cockatoo, Noojee, Moe, Yallourn, Bairnsdale, Harrietville, Mt Bogong, Orbost, Woodend and Mt Macedon.

By 10 January, almost all the forests in the Great Dividing Range were on fire. There was a large outbreak around the town of Erica, north-east of Moe, and at Powelltown between Yarra Junction and Noojee.

The fires claimed 36 lives in Victoria on Black Friday; the total number of deaths across January was 71. Approximately 1300 buildings were lost – more than 700 homes, 69 sawmills, many businesses, farms and other buildings.

The south-east of South Australia, southern New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania also experienced large fires in January 1939.

A Royal Commission for the Black Friday bush fires played a significant role in increasing bushfire awareness and prevention throughout Australia.

Black Thursday Bush Fires 1850 were caused in part by an intense drought that occurred throughout 1850 when the continent suffered from extreme heat. On 6 February 1851, a strong furnace-like wind came down from the north and gained power and speed as the hours passed. It is believed that the disaster began in Plenty Ranges when a couple of bullock drivers left logs burning unattended, which set fire to long, dry grass affected by the recent drought. The year preceding the fires was exceptionally hot and dry and this trend continued into 1851.[3]

The weather reached record extremes. By eleven it was about 47 °C (117 °F) in the shade. The air cooled to 43 °C (109 °F) by one o’clock and rose to 45 °C (113 °F) around four o’clock. Survivors claimed the air was so full of smoke and heat that their lungs seemed to collapse. The air was so dark it made the roads seem bright.[1] Pastures and plains became shrivelled wastelands: water-holes disappeared, creeks dried up, and trees turned into combustible timber. Clouds of smoke filled the air; forests and ranges became one large “sheet of flames”.[1] The hot north wind was so strong that thick black smoke reached northern Tasmania, creating a murky mist, resembling a combination of smoke and fog.[4] Homes, crops and gardens were consumed by the rushing fire leaving a quarter of Victoria in a heap of desolate ruins. The community fled to water to escape the suffocating air around them, returning after everything was over to the sight of “blackened homesteads” and the charred bodies of animals that could not escape. The weather at sea was even “more fearful than on shore”.[1] The intense heat could be felt 32 km (20 mi) out to sea where a ship came under burning ember attack and was covered in cinders and dust.[5]

3 Comments

  1. Ray says:

    We attended the launch of the Yanchep Sun City project back in the late 70’s when the temperature exceeded 44 degrees for three days. Part of the reason why we left WA was that it was too darn hot!

  2. Rudy says:

    When are we going to get real? I could not see any warming from 2001 to 2014,. temperatures were then jacked up in 2015 just prior to the Paris climate conference..

  3. Noel Carter says:

    We had no way of measuring the earth temperature accurately before the employment of Satellites in the 70’s. If you go to Google it now says that the average temperature of the Earth is approximately 59 F (15 C) at sea level.

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