1952 South Coast Bushfires

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SOUTH COAST
85 Homes Lost; Vast Areas of Black Earth

Reports filtering through from the South Coast yesterday gave this picture of the bushfire destruction:
• 85 homes were destroyed and more than two million acres of pasture burnt out in the Bega district alone.
• A man and his wife, their clothes burnt off, sheltered in a culvert where they took refuge.
• A day-long fight saved the town of Bega itself.

A man who saw the result of the fires said: "The whole countryside from the mountain range on the west of Bega to the coast, a distance of 30 miles, is almost one waste of blackened earth with no fences or pastures standing and very few farmhouses."

The Minister for Labour and Social Welfare, Mr. F. J. Finnan, said last night immediate steps were being taken to assist the fire victims.

Sisters Dead, Mother Burnt

Those who died in the South Coast fires were:
Marie Otton, 16, of Upper Brogo, 10 miles north of Bega;
Jennifer Otton, 14;
Rudolf Ogilvie, about 66, also of Upper Brogo;
John Taylor, 58, of Quaama, about 17 miles north of Bega, died after a day-long battle with the flames.

DIED IN HEAT

An elderly Bega resident, Jim Preo, collapsed and died during the heat.
Mrs. Fred Otton, mother of the two girls, is in Bega Hospital suffering from burns.
Sergeant Frank Dawson, of Cobargo police, said last night that the Otton sisters and Ogilvie were killed when fires swept the Otton property. It seemed that when the fire was approaching, the occupants of the house made for a well nearby.
"Mrs. Otton, her son Max, and the Rev. David Orange got into the well, which measures four feet by three feet," he said.
“The two girls, with Ogilvie, started up the hill.

50 YARDS OFF

"The eldest girl, Marie, and Ogilvie, collapsed 50 yards from the well, and Jennifer went 200 yards further on on horseback.
"Whether she was struck by a limb or not we don't know.
Mrs. Otton and her two companions are safe.
Sergeant Dawson said John Taylor was helping to fight an outbreak at Quaama.
His companions looked around and found that Taylor had collapsed. He died of heart failure. Sergeant Dawson said the temperature at Cobargo yesterday was 112 degrees.
"Farmers in the district have lost thousands of head of cattle," he said. "Four houses are known to be down - the Ottons', one belonging to Ogilvie, another to a Mr. Vallance, and a fourth.”
"We have been fighting fires since Thursday." Sergeant Dawson said the fire got to within one and a half miles of Cobargo town.
From fire refugees and from the Forestry Commission radio reports reached Sydney only last night of bushfires which burnt out thousands of square miles of pastures between Nowra and Eden.

BEGA'S PLIGHT

Bega is in a desperate plight.
Farmers, ruined by the fires, have sent messages to Sydney relatives appealing for help.
Bega was licked by flames when Friday's fire was at its peak.
Businessmen, farmers, and women and children fought the flames on the edge of the town.
Flames destroyed one house before firefighters could reach it.

Fight To Save Hospital

Chemists converted their shops into emergency dressing stations. Other shops closed their doors.
Hundreds of people beat the fire back from the Bega Hospital, where fire victims were already being admitted. Nurses left patients to join in the fight. They beat out flames with bags and floor rugs. Bega Hospital treated scores of people for burns and injuries.

IN MOUNTAINS

By last night the Bega fires had burnt their way into the Mumbulla Mountain, 12 miles north of Bega town.
Senior-constable R. Patterson, of Bega, said late last night there was a heavy mist forming over the area and some light rain had fallen on the fires.
"If the weather continues even as it is we will be all right," he said. "There are a couple of small fires burning, but the immediate danger has passed. This morning I saw one farm near the foot of Mumbulla Mountain which is the only one standing in miles of blackened countryside.”

WATER FAILURE

All the families who have been rendered homeless are living with friends and neighbours in the area.
"Supplies have been coming through and we still need some blankets, but our most desperate need now is for fodder. A lot of stock was saved in the area when it took refuge in small creeks and swampy ground which the fire passed over.”
Our big difficulty in Bega was the failure of the water supply. The Fire Brigade could not use its hoses. Each time the fire came to the edge of the town it was held back only by people using beaters. Twice the hospital was menaced, but sheer hard work, and once a slight change of wind, saved it. The flames were just phenomenal.
Bega police have appealed for clothing for 75 destitute families.
Many local farmers have asked friends in Sydney for help.
Here are two typical messages:
We are safe but the home is gone. Will send wife and children up on Monday. Do your best to obtain 1-2 tons of wheat.
At least three-quarters of farmland in the Bega district has been burnt out.

COUPLE'S ESCAPE

At Tilba Tilba, four homes, a car and a utility truck, were destroved.
Mr. and Mrs. H. Sindel, fleeing from their blazing home, were trapped in a utility truck when a burning log blocked the roadway. They abandoned the truck and sheltered in a culvert where they were found scorched by the flames and with their clothes burnt, but otherwise unhurt.
Eleven houses were destroyed in fires which burnt right up to the edge of Eden on Friday.
At St. George's Basin, near Nowra, fires gutted two homes, each valued at £1,150. Several fishermen's cabins have also gone.
Fourteen aborigines in the Nowra district are homeless. Their settlement has been burnt out.
At Cockwhy Creek, 30 miles south of Milton, fire destroyed Mrs. F. Minnett's store, valued at £5,000.
At Bateman's Bay one of the most up-to-date sawmills on the South Coast, Bowman's Mill, was gutted in a few minutes. The owners estimate their loss at more than £10,000.
Surfmen Lose Gear, Car at Bermagui
Eight instructors touring the South Coast for the N.S.W. Surf Life Saving Association lost one of their cars and much equipment yesterday while they helped to fight bushfires near Bermagui. The team, headed by Mr. Frank Payne, superintendent of the association's Central Coast branch, were surrounded by flames for six hours.
One of their cars was destroyed while they were in the bush helping to save seven houses.
Forestry officers and volunteer firefighters stood by three miles south of Bermagui yesterday.
Fires have swept through thousands of acres of land.
Bermagui is still isolated to the north and south. All telephone lines are down.
All telephone and telegraph communications between Canberra and Bateman's Bay, Narooma, Milton, Moruya, and Eden were down at 4 p.m. yesterday.
Braidwood police said as far as they knew the road to Bateman's Bay was still open.
Rain was just then starting to fall in the Braidwood area. No fires were burning.

PLANE TURNS BACK

A "Sunday Herald" reporter, who tried to get to the bushfire area on the South Coast yesterday, could not get beyond Ulladulla by plane because of dense smoke. Smoke and fires covered hundreds of miles from Sutherland to Milton.
The plane was finally forced to turn back to Sydney because smoke reduced visibility to about 300 yards.
During the afternoon large fires burnt at Sutherland and south of Sutherland. A series of big fires was burning on a 10-mile front west of Heathcote. There were also big fires at Stanwell Park, Bulli, and Austinmer, west of North Wollongong, on both sides of Jervis Bay, and at Milton and Ulladulla.

RELIEF

Mr. Finnan said last night money, food, clothing, tents, and other goods were being supplied to burnt-out families through the Bushfire Relief Committee's fund established by the Commonwealth and State Governments.
Mr. L. K. Rath, officer in charge of Social Welfare for the State, said that a relief force would leave at dawn this morning for Bega. A load of blankets also would be sent to the South Coast. Later to-day a pantechnicon loaded with clothing, bedding, food, and tents would be sent if necessary.
The first officers would have full power to get what supplies they could locally and order more from Sydney if necessary.
Other officers were already working in the Riverina on a similar mission.
Yesterday the committee issued clothing and tents to the occupants of 37 homes destroyed in the Sutherland-Stanwell Tops area.

• Sydney Morning Herald, 27.1.1952