Black Friday
The Black Friday bushfires of 13 January 1939 were the result of a prolonged drought and hot, dry and windy weather. Prior to 13 January, many fires were already burning in the affected areas unable to be extinguished. Some started as early as December 1938, but most of them started in the first week of January 1939. Soaring temperatures and severe northerly winds on 13 January led to the fires joining, creating one large fire front that devastated the communities in its path.
The bushfires affected Toolangi, the Black Range, Rubicon, Acheron, Warburton, Noojee, Tanjil Bren, Hill End, Woods Point, Matlock, Erica, Bright, Omeo, Toombullup, Corryong, the Otway Ranges, Western Victoria, Black Forest and the urban fringes of Melbourne.
As a direct result of the Black Friday bushfires, 71 people died, 1.6 million hectares of land was burnt and 700 homes and shops were destroyed. The fires destroyed 69 sawmills and the Woods Point Hospital.
Three weeks after the bushfires, a Royal Commission was convened, the findings of which still inform Victoria’s fire management practices today. Judge Leonard Stretton was selected to lead the Royal Commission. He was instructed to specifically inquire into the causes of and measures taken to prevent the 1939 bushfires, the measures taken to protect life and property and procedures put in place to protect life and property in the event of future bushfires.
Judge Stretton found the bushfires were "lit by the hand of man", and delivered seven major recommendations aimed at achieving a clearer separation of fire and forest management, better cooperation between competing government departments, and more flexible and comprehensible laws of fire protection and prevention.
Judge Stretton's report was a significant point in the history of Victoria's emergency management arrangements. The recommendations and subsequent actions taken were:
-
The Forests Commission should have complete control of all forests.
The Forests Act 1939 increased the Forests Commission’s territorial fire responsibility threefold.
Note that the Forests Commission is now the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
- The Forests Commission must pay greater attention to the reclamation and rehabilitation of forests and cease to be too preoccupied with revenue production.
In the decade after the fires (a period of intensive salvage of a fire-killed timber) resources were taken away from silvicultural (tree cultivation) work. From the end of the 1940s, scientists and foresters began to learn how to cultivate and manage the regenerating forests of mountain ash.
- A State Fire Authority should be established.
The Country Fire Authority commenced operation on 2 April 1945.
- A Land Utilisation Control Committee should be established.
A Soil Conservation Board was established in Victoria in 1940. Judge Stretton strengthened this recommendation in his 1946 Royal Commission into Forest Grazing when he spoke of "an inseparable trinity - Forest, Soil and Water" and renewed his call for a land utilisation authority.
In 1950 the Victorian Government created a Land Utilisation Advisory Council (now the Land Conservation Council) chaired by its first Minister for Conservation, Henry Bolte.
- The Forests Commission must recognise the necessity for protective burning in its areas and should respect local forest lore.
Following the Black Friday bushfires, controlled burning increasingly became an official fire management practice.
- Safety precautions at sawmills must be improved.
The Forests Act 1939 enabled the Forests Commission to enforce the installation of fire-refuge dugouts at mills built in protected forests as well as reserved forests.
- The education of adults and children about fire prevention and protection must be taken seriously.
A ‘Save the Forests’ campaign was established in Victoria in 1944. It aimed to cultivate a 'forest conscience' through public education.
For more information, please visit the Black Friday website located below.
The link(s) below will launch a new browser window.