Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal (NSW : 1851 - 1862; 1872; 1882; 1885 - 1897; 1899 - 1904), Saturday 9 February 1901, page 2


DESTRUCTIVE BUSH FIRES.

IN N.S. WALES, VICTORIA AND . TASMANIA. FEARFUL 8UFf¥eING AND LOSSES. ? ? t . ', t f ? v ?' ? ? - ^^^^^~ '??..?:?.-? MANY FATALITIES. . ' ' Sydney. Saturday.

?Further disastrous bush fires due to Jthe excessive heat are reported from various parts of the colony. Several instances ? are recorded of homesteads burnt out, and the farmers suffering severely.' ? while one young . man * named

Schmitob is believed to have perished in a bosh fire near Albury. . Dreadful bush fires are raging in Victoria, by which valuable properties have been swept away and numerous families rendered houieloss. . ??:,?; Several people have been burnt to death. ;The township of Byaduk barely exists,, . and the women and children only escaped with their lives, ; , . 'Many people with their cloches burning '-rushed to the creeks and dams and stood in -the water while the~ fire swept by. On various stations fully 50,000 ; sheep were roasted to death and the devastation has been likened to Black Thursday. The railway line in many places has been wreaked and railway bridges and culverts . destroyed. '?;/?*?' Dundonnell the Pre byterian Ohuroh wks blown down by a cyclone. The express train for Sydney had to pass between walls of firo. 'Bush fires have again broken out' at Queenstovm, Tasmania. Sixty bouses havo been burnt, and ? many desperate fights for life are reported. . Hundreds af people are homeless. . ' Tbo wind blew with hurricane ' foroe, like. blastB from a furnace, . ?The Mount Lyoll Company's saw millB liere only saved with difficulty. ?, :: : ?? ''?' Destructive fires contiuue throughout ouih Australia, ' ...