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William Strutt
born England 1825, died England 1915
Race for life, Black Thursday c. 1863
oil on canvas
18.8 x 45.2 cm
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Purchased1995, The Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund
1995.0015
"I can never forget the morning of that scorching
Thursday, ever after memorable in the annals of the colony as
“Black Thursday”.
The heat had become so terrific quite early in the
day that one felt almost unable to move. At the breakfast table
the butter in the butter dish was melted into oil, and bread when
just cut turned to rusk. The meat on the table became nearly black,
as if burnt before the fire, a few minutes after being cut.
Everything felt hot to the touch, even the window
panes in the shade. Cold water you could not get, and the dust
raised in clouds by the fierce wind was sand which penetrated
everywhere …
The sun looked red all day, almost as blood, and
the sky the colour of mahogany. We felt in town that something
terrible (with the immense volumes of smoke) must be going on
up country and sure enough messenger after messenger came flocking
in with tales of distress and horror."
Cited Mackaness, G (ed.), ‘The Australian journal
of William Strutt, ARA, 1850–1862’, in Australian
Historical Monographs, part 1, vol. 41, 1958, p. 20.
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