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William Strutt
born England 1825, died England 1915
Untitled (Sketch for ‘Black Thursday, February
6th 1851’) c. 1863
pen and ink on paper
37.5 x 47.5 cm
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest 1973
1973.0145
"It was on a Thursday morning, 6th February
1851, that the sun rose lurid and red and the wind increased with
stifling heat, producing such a deadly languor that it must be
felt to be realized.
The unextinguished little fire spread in the dry
grass, and soon got too fierce to beat out in the usual way …
Thus it spread and coursed down the ranges into the more level
country, the burning patch widening with the furious wind, till
eventually it became one mighty, irresistible wave of flames about
fifty miles broad, sweeping on! on! on!
It leaped over the creeks, burnt fences, huts, stations;
seemed to spring into the trees, and with two or three whirls
blazed up and enveloped the whole mass of foliage, which roared
and crackled till consumed: then sped on to another tree to serve
it in like manner. The flocks of sheep were burnt up by thousands,
also the cattle and horses.
The terrified squatters and settlers hastily made
their escape, leaving everything. The sick, put into drays, were
hurried off; it was now a stampede for life … "
Cited Mackaness, G (ed.), ‘The Australian journal
of William Strutt, ARA, 1850–1862’, in Australian
Historical Monographs, part 1, vol. 41, 1958, pp. 19–20.
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