Bushfires in Victoria

Find books, government reports, websites, statistics, newspaper articles and images about Victorian bushfires from 1851 to today.

Resources

Widespread bushfires occurred in Victoria in early February 1851. The height of the destruction happened on Black Thursday, 6 February 1851.

'Fires covered a quarter of what is now Victoria (approximately 5 million hectares). Areas affected include Portland, Plenty Ranges, Westernport, the Wimmera and Dandenong districts. Approximately 12 lives, one million sheep and thousands of cattle were lost' (Forest Fire Management Victoria).

Advice on using the Library's catalogue and in-house indexes to research these fires can be found on our page about researching fires.

This page includes advice about:

Eleventh progress report on the Royal Commission on state forests and timber reserves: fire protection in country districts (1900). Parliamentary Paper
Online. This paper includes an appendix with extracts from contemporary accounts of the 1851 fires.
Black Thursday - the great bush fire of Victoria by William Howitt
Online, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Transcription by John Blay of an article from Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper, Vol. 1. No.6., London, Saturday, February 4, 1854. The article describes in detail the events and aftermath of this bushfire.
Further articles by Howitt appeared in Vol. 1, No.'s 8 and 9 (February 18 and 25, 1854) (source). The State Library does not hold copies of any of these issues.
Black Thursday by William Howitt
Online. Article from Household Words (London), May 10, 1856, pp.388-395. Differs to article transcribed above. Unclear if this duplicates an article from Cassell's of Feb 18 or 25.
Burning bush: a fire history of Australia
Book. See pages 221-224 for a description of the 1851 fires.
Grand fine art exhibition: William Strutt's great historical picture, Black Thursday...
Online. Dating from about 1883, pages 5-7 of this exhibition catalogue describe the fires, including quotations from newspapers and from an article in Household Words by William Howitt.
Great disasters in Australian history
Book. See pages 96-97.
Victorian history and politics: European settlement to 1939: a survey of the literature
Book. See Volume 2, page 368 for a bibliography of published eyewitness accounts of the 1851 fires.
State of fire: a history of volunteer fire fighting and the Country Fire Authority in Victoria
Book. Includes chapter about the Black Thursday fires.
Burn: the epic story of bushfire in Australia
Book. The 2009 edition includes a basic map showing the areas of Victoria burnt in these fires (viii).
A future in flames
Book. Pages 63-4 contain an account of the fires written in 1888 by Edmund Finn ('Garryowen').
Up came a squatter: the life and times of Niel Black, 1839-1880
Book. Niel Black was one of Victoria's most successful squatters. His descriptions of Black Thursday are included in this book, which is based on his letters and journals, held at State Library Victoria.
Melbourne's highest temperature on record, 117°F (47.2°C), on Black Thursday, 6 February 1851—but is it valid? by Stern, Harvey; Cornall-Reilly, J; McBride, P; Fitzgerald, A
Online. Paper presented at the 15th Symposium on Meteorological Observation and Instrumentation 2010
My first visit to the bush in Victoria, Australia, and recollections of Black Thursday and the great bush fire, ca. 1851
Manuscript. Telephone 8664 7009 before your visit to organise access. Contains an account of bushfires at Sutton Grange Station, near Mt Alexander, Victoria.
Charles Joseph La Trobe papers
Manuscripts. Telephone 8664 7009 before your visit to organise access.
- letter from La Trobe to his sister describing the devastation caused by the fires 7/4/1851
- letter from Captain Richards to La Trobe 15/11/1856
- short memos by La Trobe
- letter from Captain Evans to La Trobe giving an extract from his journal on the atmospheric phenomena caused by Black Thursday at Middle Island, New Zealand 2/12/1856
- extract from Captain Richards’ journal on the atmospheric phenomena observed off the coast of New Zealand on Black Thursday
Two journals of Edward W Bagshawe: manuscript, 1851 1 January - I May and 1852 1 June - 26 December.
Manuscripts. Telephone 8664 7009 before your visit to organise access. On pages v, vi and vii of his journal, surveyor's assistant Edward W. Bagshawe describes being in the bush on 6 February 1851, Black Thursday. He writes about the heat, the fear, and birds dropping dead from the sky.
Reminiscences by Henry Mundy
Includes descriptions of bushfires in Victoria, January 1845 and Black Thursday, 1851.
Published as A young Australian pioneer : Henry Mundy (2003?) and The land of their adoption: (Henry Mundys diary), from England to Australia, 1838-1857 (1999).
George Gordon McCrae: Black Thursday, 6 February 1851
A description of “Black Thursday” is taken from his diaries when McCrae was working with a Government survey party around Mount Macedon in 1851. Transcribed in La Trobe Journal No 44 Spring 1989.

Images

Black Thursday, February 6th. 1851, H28049

This painting of the 1851 fires, by William Strutt, is a State Library collection treasure. You can view and download a high resolution copy online.

The Library's Pictures Librarian Madeleine Say has written a detailed history of the painting: 'Black Thursday: William Strutt's "Itinerant Picture"' (La Trobe Journal, No 75 Autumn 2005).

You can watch Virginia Dahlenburg, former senior conservator of paintings at the Library, talk about the painting online.

Newspaper reports

Newspapers reports began appearing in the days immediately after the fires on 6 February 1851.

The reports contained information from eyewitnesses. There was news about the fundraising efforts of relief committees.

Reports on the coroner's findings regarding some fire deaths also appeared in the days and weeks after the fires.

Advice on using the Library's newspapers collection to research these fires can be found on our Research fires page.

Attached are some reports that appeared in Melbourne's Argus newspaper. Reports from the Argus and other Australian newspapers can be found using the Trove newspapers search engine.

Hold your mouse over the link for additional information. Click on the link to view the article.

i) Argus 8 February 1851 p 2
The article reports on six deaths near Diamond Creek. There is also a description of the weather on Black Thursday.
ii) Argus 11 February 1851 p 2
More details of stock losses on some farming properties
iii) Argus 13 February 1851 p 2
Report on fires in the Otways and Port Fairy.
iv) Argus 13 February 1851 p 2
Details of initial meeting of the Fire Relief Committee held at Macks Hotel, Melbourne, on Tuesday 11 February.
v) Argus 13 February 1851 p 2
List of subscribers to the Fire Relief Committee appeal
vi) Argus 24 April 1851 p 2
Report of meeting of the Relief Committee. Some figures are difficult to read. The estimates of losses for those compensated by the Central Committee were £6202; Kilmore £3,145; Plenty River £2360 for total estimated losses of £11,707.
vii) Argus 24 April 1851 p 2a
Detail of funds raised and dispersed.

Bushfires in Victoria

Resources

Images

Newspaper reports

State Library Victoria