On 17 February 1965 dry lightning sparked several fires in the densely forested areas of East Gippsland.
Two of these strikes became major fires: one near Omeo and another near Valencia Creek. The fires would burn for several weeks and were reportedly the worst in the region since the Black Friday fires of 1939.
Fuelled by hot weather and strong winds, the fires burnt through kilometres of forest, occasionally heading out of the bushland and threatening townships along the forest edge. In early March, a third fire started to the north of Glenmaggie.
On Friday 5 March, a day of Total Fire Ban, the Victorian Government declared a State of Emergency. Members of the Defence Force were moved in to assist with the firefighting effort.
By the middle of March, two of the three fires had joined and stretched all the way from Lake Glenmaggie to Tambo Crossing in the east.
Key reports vary, but around 750,000 acres of forest and 40,000 acres of grassland were burnt. More than 60 properties and 4,000 livestock were lost. Remarkably, despite the sheer size and scale of the fires, there were no human fatalities.
In terms of size, the 1965 Gippsland fires were some of the most significant in the region and yet not many official accounts exist today. Peter McHugh, a former Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP) employee released this detailed account in 2020.
A recent online oral history project has also captured some memories from Gippsland residents who lived through the fires. You can hear some of these first-hand accounts in the video below:
Do you have memories or photos of these fires? If so, share your story with us via internalcomms@cfa.vic.gov.au
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Front page of The Age newspaper - 5 March 1965
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| Submitted by |
Alison Smirnoff |