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{{short description|Series of wildfires which destroyed large areas of Victoria State, Australia, in 1851}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox wildfire
|title=Black Thursday bushfires
|location=[[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], Australia
|date=6 February 1851
|time=
|timezone=
|acres=
|cause =[[Heat wave]], careless burning
|landuse=
|livestock=over 1,000,000
|fatalities=12
|injuries=
|perps=
|motive= }}

The '''Black Thursday bushfires''' were a devastating series of [[Bushfires in Australia|fires]] that swept the [[Port Phillip District]] (now the state of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]) in Australia, on 6 February 1851, burning up {{convert|5|e6ha|e6acre km2 sqmi|abbr=off|lk=on}}, or about a quarter of the state's area.{{efn |Fires covered a quarter of what is now Victoria.
This spans approximately 5 million hectares<ref name=black />}} Twelve people died, along with one million sheep, thousands of cattle and countless native animals.

{{blockquote
|text=''"The temperature became torrid, and on the morning of the 6th of February 1851, the air which blew down from the north resembled the breath of a furnace. A fierce wind arose, gathering strength and velocity from hour to hour, until about noon it blew with the violence of a tornado. By some inexplicable means it wrapped the whole country in a sheet of flame – fierce, awful, and irresistible."''
|author=[[Andrew Garran]] (editor)
|source=''Picturesque Atlas of Australasia'', 1886}}

{{wide image|WP Black Thursday.jpg|800px|''Black Thursday, February 6th. 1851'', as depicted by [[William Strutt (artist)|William Strutt]] in 1864}}

==Causes==
The Black Thursday bushfires were caused in part by an intense [[drought]] that occurred throughout 1850 when the continent suffered from extreme heat. On 6 February 1851, a strong furnace-like wind came down from the north and gained power and speed as the hours passed. It is believed that the disaster began in [[Shire of Nillumbik|Plenty Ranges]] when a couple of [[Ox|bullock]] drivers left logs burning unattended, which set fire to long, dry grass affected by the recent drought. The year preceding the fires was exceptionally hot and dry and this trend continued into 1851.<ref name=Kiddle>{{cite book|last=Kiddle|first=Margaret|title=Men of yesterday: A Social History of the Western District of Victoria, 1834–1890|year=1980|publisher=Melbourne University Press|location=Melbourne|page=181|isbn=978-0522842081|edition=Reprinted with corrections.}}</ref>

==Conditions and progress==
The weather reached record extremes. By eleven it was about {{Convert|117|F|disp=flip}} in the shade. The air cooled to {{Convert|109|F|disp=flip}} by one o'clock and rose to {{Convert|113|F|disp=flip}} around four o’clock. Survivors claimed the air was so full of smoke and heat that their lungs seemed to collapse. The air was so dark it made the roads seem bright.<ref name=black />
Pastures and plains became shrivelled wastelands: water-holes disappeared, creeks dried up, and trees turned into combustible timber. Clouds of smoke filled the air; forests and ranges became one large "sheet of flames".<ref name=black>{{cite web|title=Bushfires in Victoria 1851 Black Thursday|url=http://romseyaustralia.com/fire1851.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408044516/http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/fire1851.html | archive-date=8 April 2014| publisher=Romsey Australia |access-date=27 May 2019}}</ref> The hot north wind was so strong that thick black smoke reached northern [[Tasmania]], creating a murky mist, resembling a combination of smoke and fog.<ref name="The Maitland Mercury, and Hunter River General Advertiser (Tasmania), Saturday 22 February 1851">''[[Maitland Mercury]]'', and Hunter River General Advertiser (Tasmania), Saturday 22 February 1851</ref> Homes, crops and gardens were consumed by the rushing fire leaving a quarter of Victoria in a heap of desolate ruins. The community fled to water to escape the suffocating air around them, returning after everything was over to the sight of "blackened homesteads" and the charred bodies of animals that could not escape. The weather at sea was even "more fearful than on shore".<ref name=black /> The intense heat could be felt {{convert|32|km|abbr=on}} out to sea where a ship came under burning ember attack and was covered in cinders and dust.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4300936 |title=Black Thursday |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=28 June 1924 |access-date=25 October 2013 |page=6}}</ref>

Eventually, a [[Southerly Buster|southerly]] breeze and light rain cooled the surface.<ref name=black />

==Consequences and responses==
{{more citations needed|section|date=February 2018}}
<blockquote> ''I write only what I have seen, I might mention that pigs and dogs running loose were burned to death – birds were dropping down off the trees before the fire in all directions – opossums, kangaroos, and all sorts of beasts can be had today ready roasted all over the bush. Fully one half of the timber in this neighbourhood has been burned or blown down, and all the grass has been burnt.''<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4776100 |title=The Late Bushfires |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=10 February 1851 |access-date=11 April 2014 |page=2 }}</ref></blockquote>

The catastrophic fire caused the loss of human life, cattle, and land for miles and affected many regions including Portland, Plenty Ranges, [[Western Port]],<ref>''[[Empire (newspaper)|Empire]]'', Sydney 19 Feb 1851</ref> the [[Wimmera]] and [[Dandenong, Victoria|Dandenong]] districts, [[Gippsland]], and [[Mount Macedon]]. Farms across the region were destroyed, along with a number of settlements in Gippsland, Western Port, [[Geelong]], [[Heidelberg, Victoria|Heidelberg]] and east to [[Diamond Creek, Victoria|Diamond Creek]] and Dandenong. Three men from Mount Macedon died. Overall, the disaster resulted in the death of twelve people, one million sheep, and thousands of cattle over {{convert|40|to|50|mi|-1|disp=flip}}.

The initial response to the calamity was a public meeting held on 11 February 1851 at Geelong. The community came together to discuss relief efforts for those affected, especially for citizens who lost everything. To assist the poor, many even cancelled outstanding debts.

==Ecology==
[[File:Burnt Bases of Eucalyptus tenuiramis.jpg|thumbnail|right|Burnt bases of ''[[Eucalyptus tenuiramis]]'' in dry sclerophyll forest]]

Intense bushfires are not uncommon in southern Australia. The region is one of the three most fire-prone in the world. Within the last two hundred years, the area has experienced and documented at least [[Bushfires in Australia|twenty-five major fires]], beginning with Black Thursday in 1851. The intensity of these fires is due in part to natural fuels, such as [[sclerophyll]] forests in the region. While adapting to cope with drought and predators, the trees' leaves turn into prime fuel for fires. They become tough as protection from dry conditions and to increase the efficiency of nutrient use. They also develop tough spikes and chemicals to protect themselves from small animals. The leaves' tough surface allows them to last longer and build up on the forest floor and the chemical makes them flammable. The abundance of flammable fuel can cause an inferno with a single spark.<ref name="Heritage Australia">{{cite web|last=Kellett|first=Dr. Mark|title=Fire and the Australian Bush|url=http://heritageaustralia.com.au/pdfs/Heritage%200308_Bushfire.pdf|access-date=26 February 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303203925/http://www.heritageaustralia.com.au/pdfs/Heritage%200308_Bushfire.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2014}}</ref>

The area's disturbance regime has shaped the landscape by causing the plant communities to evolve and develop mechanisms to aid in speedy recovery. The native species of the Australian bush, for example, have developed post fire seed release and smoke exposure germination. Other plants, such as [[acacia]], [[eucalyptus]],<ref name="Woody plants adaptation">{{cite journal|last=Kozlowski|first=T.T.|author2=S. G. Pallardy|title=Acclimation and adaptive responses of woody plants to environmental stresses|journal=The Botanical Review|date=April–June 2002|volume=68|issue=2|pages=276–277|doi=10.1663/0006-8101(2002)068[0270:aaarow]2.0.co;2|s2cid=2312695 }}</ref> and ''[[Monotoca elliptica]]''<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ross|first=Karen |author2=Barry J. Fox |author3=Marilyn D. Fox|title=Changes to plant species richness in forest fragments: fragment age, disturbance and fire history may be as important as area|journal=Journal of Biogeography|year=2002|volume=29|issue=5–6|pages=752|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2699.2002.00722.x|s2cid=86262180 }}</ref> have adapted to survive in dry, nutrient poor soil.<ref name="Heritage Australia"/>

''[[Acacia oncinocarpa]]'' and ''[[Eucalyptus miniata]]'', for example, and perennial herbs all have adaptive mechanisms that enable them to live in fire-prone areas of Australia. Both the acacia (a small spreading shrub) and eucalyptus (an overstorey tree) can regenerate from seeds and vegetatively regenerate new shoots from buds that escape fire. Reproduction and seed fall occur during the eight dry months. Due to the area's frequent fires, the seeds are usually released onto a recently burnt seed bed.<ref name=Acacia>{{cite journal|last=Setterfield|first=S.A.|title=Seedling Establishment in an Australian Tropical Savanna: Effects of Seed Supply, Soil Disturbance and Fire|journal=Journal of Applied Ecology|date=December 2002|volume=39|issue=6|pages=949–959|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2664.2002.00772.x|jstor=827282|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Perennial herbs survive fire by avoidance. They make up the understorey and grow during seasons with lower temperatures and more rainfall. By dying back in the summer they avoid most fires. During a fire, they have a [[bulb]] or [[root]] mass that lives underground, and only the dead stems and leaves burn, so the plant survives and begins to grow again the following year.<ref name="Heritage Australia"/>

==Popular Culture==
The bushfires were depicted in the 1954 novel ''[[The Fury (Timms novel)|The Fury]]''.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=1 January 1955|page=17|title=Black Thursday to Bakery Hill}}</ref>
== See also ==
*[[Black Thursday|List of Black Thursdays]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{cite web
| title=State Library of Victoria's Bushfires in Victoria Research Guide
| work=Guide to locating books, government reports, websites, statistics, newspaper reports and images about the Black Thursday fires
| url=http://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/bushfires/
| access-date=2009-07-09}}
* {{cite web|title=Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, Fire and Other Emergencies |work=Major Bushfires in Victoria |url=http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenfoe.nsf/LinkView/E20ACF3A4A127CB04A25679300155B04358FFCDA5CA1F43FCA256DA6000942C9 |access-date=2009-02-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902231529/http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenfoe.nsf/LinkView/E20ACF3A4A127CB04A25679300155B04358FFCDA5CA1F43FCA256DA6000942C9 |archive-date=2 September 2006 }}
* {{cite web
| title=Craigieburn Historical Interest Group
| work=Bushfires of Black Thursday, 1851
| url=http://www.chig.asn.au/black_thursday_bushfires_1851.htm
| access-date=2009-02-20
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113073941/http://www.chig.asn.au/black_thursday_bushfires_1851.htm
| archive-date=13 November 2010
| url-status=dead
}}
* {{cite web
| title=Romsey Australia
| work=Melbourne "Argus" Newspaper 8 February 1851
| url=http://romseyaustralia.com/fire1851.html
| access-date=2009-02-20}}
* {{cite web
| title=State Library of Victoria
| work=Painting entitled "Black Thursday, 1851" by William Strutt, 1864
| url=http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/our-collections/treasures-curios/black-thursday
| access-date=2011-02-08
| archive-date=12 June 2011
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612202653/http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/our-collections/treasures-curios/black-thursday
| url-status=dead
}}

{{Bushfires in Australia}}
{{coord missing|Victoria (state)}}

[[Category:Bushfires in Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:1851 fires]]
[[Category:1850s in Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:1851 in Australia]]
[[Category:19th-century wildfires]]
[[Category:1851 natural disasters]]
[[Category:February 1851]]
[[Category:1851 disasters in Australia]]
[[Category:1850s fires in Oceania]]

Black Thursday bushfires - Revision history

103.53.117.56 at 07:04, 16 March 2025