Black Thursday bushfires

The Black Thursday bushfires were a devastating series of fires that swept the Port Phillip District (now the state of Victoria) in Australia, on 6 February 1851, burning up 5 million hectares (12 million acres; 50,000 square kilometres; 19,000 square miles), or about a quarter of the state's area.^[a] Twelve people died, along with one million sheep, thousands of cattle and countless native animals.

"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."^[2]

Black Thursday, February 6th. 1851, as depicted by William Strutt in 1864

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