The Black Friday bushfires claim 71 lives in Australia - January 13th, 1939

On this day in 1939, a series of fires converged and swept rapidly across large areas of Victoria, Australia, leaving a widespread trail of death and destruction.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that shines a light on the ups and
downs of everyday history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're

(00:20):
reflecting on the Black Friday bushfires. The devastated Southeast Australia
and ushered in a new era of fire prevention and management.
The day was January nine, thirty nine. A series of

(00:43):
fires converged and swept rapidly across large areas of Victoria, Australia,
leaving a widespread trail of death and destruction. The event,
known as Black Friday, was the culmination of several years
worth of drought, combined with high temperatures and powerful winds.
Some of the fires had been burning since early December,

(01:06):
and when the dry conditions fanned the flames, the separate
fires combined into a massive inferno, which then spread across
the southeastern state in virtually every direction. In total, the
Black Friday fires burned nearly two million hectares of land,
including large areas of state forest. Fierce winds swept the

(01:29):
flames across great distances, leveling giant trees and blowing embers
miles away, where they then started new fires in regions
that had never burned before. The fires grew so large
and intense that falling ash was reportedly sighted from as
far away as New Zealand. The destruction came to an

(01:51):
end two days later, when a rain storm lent a
hand to beleaguered firefighters and finally snuffed out the flames
on Black Friday itself. The fires claimed the lives of
thirty six people. By the time they were extinguished, the
death toll had risen to seventy one lives lost. In addition,

(02:13):
thousands of sheep, cattle, and horses were killed by the
intense heat and flames, and countless other mammals and birds
lost their habitats. Approximately thirteen hundred buildings were destroyed, including
seven hundred homes, sixty nine sawmills, and a host of
other businesses and farms. Beyond the immediate damage, the bushfires

(02:36):
also had a lasting effect on the environment of Victoria.
Water supplies were contaminated with ash, dirt, and other debris
for years following the fires, and the region's soil was
scorched so deeply that it took decades to restore its
original fertility. As For what had caused the devastating fires,

(02:57):
there were two main factors. The first was a year's
long period of drought that had caused many of the
area's creeks and rivers to dry up. Worse Yet, high
temperatures and dry winds had drained most of the moisture
from the ground, leaving the forest floors and open plains
primed to burn. The second factor, which led to the

(03:19):
fires on Black Friday, was human negligence. Beginning in December
of nine, a host of separate fires had been started
in Victoria for all sorts of reasons. Despite the dry conditions,
sawmill operators burned large piles of branches, while sheep and
cattle ranchers lit fires to clear land and allow new

(03:42):
grass to grow. Forest workers and campers also contributed to
the disaster by lighting camp fires and by burning new
pathways through the brush. Even when these separate fires had merged,
some landowners in the region continued lighting new ones in
the hope that burning the land around their homes would

(04:02):
prevent the larger fire from reaching them. Unfortunately, because of
the strong hot winds, those domestic fires quickly grew out
of hand and made everything much worse. The week leading
up to Black Friday was a nightmare for local residents.
Few people in Victoria had home refrigerators at the time,

(04:23):
and nobody had air conditioning. Even if they did, those
living in the bush could see the writing on the
wall or the smoke on the horizon, and they didn't
consider staying at home to be a safe option. Many
people sought relief from the encroaching flames by fling two beaches, rivers, creeks,
or even to mining tunnels. In some cases. The bush

(04:45):
fires were extinguished by rain on Sunday, January, and three
weeks later a Royal commission was launched to investigate the
causes of the fires. It was led by Judge Leonard Stretton,
who delivered the commission's thirty five page report less than
four months later. Despite being concise and relatively quickly assembled,

(05:09):
the report was thorough and surprisingly poetic. For example, take
this sentence from the report's introduction. It reads quote, the
soft carpet of the forest floor was gone. The bone
dry litter crackled underfoot. Dry heat and hot, dry winds
worked upon a land already dry to suck from it

(05:31):
the last least drop of moisture. Judge Stretton offered seven
notable recommendations for improving forest and fire management, the most
important of which led directly to the creation of Victoria's
Country Fire Authority or cf A. In In addition, the

(05:52):
government also acted on several other recommendations from Stretton, including
improved fire prevention education, the constructtion of watch towers for
early fire detection, and the implementation of controlled burns during
spring and autumn. Those improvements are the silver lining of
the Black Friday fires, and the findings of Judge Stratton

(06:14):
and the Royal Commission continue to influence Victoria's approach to
fire management even to this day. The Black Friday bush
fires were among the deadliest and most extensive of the
twentieth century. However, climate change is leading to more severe
weather more frequently. The Australian bushfire season of twenty nine

(06:37):
is already being referred to as Black Summer, a sobering
reminder than in the twenty one century, the threat and
the need for vigilance is now greater than ever. I'm gay,
Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little more about
history today than you did yesterday. If you have a

(06:57):
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heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler May's for producing
the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see

(07:19):
you back here again tomorrow for another day in History class.
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