The 1967 Tasmanian fires were an Australian natural disaster which occurred on 7 February 1967, an event which became known as the Black Tuesday bushfires. They were the most deadly bushfires that Tasmania has ever experienced, leaving 62 people dead, 900 injured and over seven thousand homeless.^[1]

Extent of the fires

125 separate fire fronts burnt through some 2,642.7 square kilometres (653,025.4 acres) of land in Southern Tasmania within the space of five hours. Fires raged from near Hamilton, Tasmania and Bothwell, Tasmania to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel as well as Snug. There was extensive damage to agricultural property near the channel, the Derwent Valley and the Huon Valley. Fires also destroyed forest, public infrastructure and properties around Mount Wellington and many small towns along the Derwent estuary and east of Hobart.

Death toll and damage

The worst of the fires was the Hobart Fire, which encroached upon the city of Hobart. In total, the fires claimed 62 lives in a single day. 52 people died in the Hobart area. Property loss was also extensive with 1293 homes, and over 1700 other buildings destroyed. The fires destroyed 80 bridges, 4800 sections of power lines, 1500 motor vehicles and over 100 other structures. It was estimated that at least 62,000 livestock were destroyed. The total damage amounted to $45,000,000 in 1967 Australian dollar values.^[2]

Causes

The late winter and early spring of 1966 had been wet over southeastern Tasmania, giving a large amount of growth by November. However, in November, Tasmania began its driest eight-month period since 1885, and by the end of January 1967 the dryness had dried off the luxuriant growth provided by the early spring rains in the area. Though January was a cool month, hot weather began early in February, so that in the days leading up to 7 February, 1967, several bushfires were burning uncontrolled in the areas concerned. Some of these fires had been deliberately lit for backburning despite the extremely dry conditions at the time. Reports into the causes of the fire stated that only 22 of the 110 fires were started accidentally.

Shortly before midday on the 7th, a combination of extremely high temperatures, (the maximum was 39 °C (102°F)), very low humidity and very strong winds from the north-west led to disaster.

Interestingly, although this fire was by far the worst in terms of loss of life and property in Tasmanian history, the meteorological conditions are not totally uncommon there. McArthur's reporthttp://sres.anu.edu.au/associated/fire/IUFRO/CONFLAG/HOBART67/AlanMc67.HTM on the fire notes that 'very similar conditions have occurred on three or four occasions during the past 70 years'.

Comparison with other major Australian bushfires

If considered in terms of both loss of property and loss of life, in 1967 this represented one of the worst disasters to have occurred in Australia. It is comparable in scale with the 1939 Black Friday bushfires in Victoria (where the loss of 72 lives was nevertheless spread over several days) and the subsequent 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia, which claimed 75 lives and razed over 2,000 homes.

See also

• List of disasters in Australia by death toll
• Bushfire

References

Further reading

• Chambers, D.M. and Brettingham-Moore, C.G. (1967) The bush fire disaster of 7th February, 1967 : report and summary of evidence (excluding appendices) ( Solicitor-General (Mr. D. M. Chambers) and the Master and Registrar of the Supreme Court (Mr. C. G. Brettingham-Moore) Office of the Solicitor-General. Hobart,Tasmania.
• Wettenhall, R. L. (1975) Bushfire disaster : an Australian community in crisis Sydney : Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0207129215