Real Climate Records

Bourke, on the Darling River, 500 miles inland from Sydney, with a population of 3,000, has suffered from a month of extreme heat.

The average daily temperature for the month has been 112, while for the four days from

January 17 to 21 the average was 118¾.

Generally the heat has been accompanied by strong hot winds from west and north, which

add to the misery of the situation by raising the dust. So unexampled a spell of extreme

temperature has caused much sickness and many deaths. In the Bourke district 35 deaths have occurred which are directly ascribable to heat. Persons drop down in the street and die without regaining consciousness.

The Railway department is running excursion trains at cheap fares from the town to the coast and the mountains. The residents are reported to be really panic-stricken, and hundreds are leaving for cooler climates.

At Wilcannia, Condobolin, Goodooga, Moree, Young, and other places the heat is nearly as great as at Bourke. At Wilcannia there have been eight deaths from sunstroke and heat apoplexy.

Thursday, January 23, was the hottest day known in Melbourne for 20 years. The shade

temperature at the Observatory was 108. In Bourke-street, on Gaunt’s instrument, the record ran up to 112. The highest Observatory record known is 111.2.

The customary change came on Thursday with almost electric speed. It was quite unexpected at

the Observatory. A swift strong breeze came up from the south-west about 5 o’clock, and in a few minutes the glass had fallen 20deg. A smart thunderstorm followed, and next day there was considerable rain.

Thursday’s heat was very general through out the colony, as the following advices, giving the record of the shade temperature at the different places, will show:—

Ararat, 99; Avenel, 108. Ballarat, 102.5 ; Bendigo, 110; Bridgewater, 112. Castlemaine, 104; Charlton, 110 ; Cobram, 107. Donald, 112; Dunolly, 106; Drouin, 100. Euroa, 104; Echuca, 112.

Frankston, 108. Geelong, 110 ; Gisborne, 108. Hopetoun, 113; Horsham, 112. Kerang, 110; Kilmore, 105. Minyip, 110; Macedon Upper, 101; Mildura, 120; Murchison, 109.5. Nagambie, 110; Natimuk, 115. Pakenham, 108. Rupanyup, 114. Swan Hill, 116; St. James, 110 ; St. Arnaud, 110: Somerville, 104. Tatura, 110; Tallarook, 106; Traralgon, 104. Wedderburn, 113; Wangaratta, 109. Yarranonga, 112.

The same day was marked by extreme heat almost all over the continent. In Adelaide the glass went up to 111 (in the sun 172). In Brisbane and throughout a large portion of Queensland the weather was oppressive and extremely hot. At St. George for the past fortnight the heat has

averaged 108deg. in the shade, and at Cunnamulla it has risen steadily to 117deg. in the shade. Thargomindah, Claremont, and Isisford send in similar reports.

Deaths from sunstroke are reported from each of these stations. There is no appearance of

rain, and business is at a standstill at many of the places.

The despatch from Bourke of Thursday says the heat was terrible—119deg. in the shade. Rain seemed as far off as ever.

Several more deaths are reported. John Smith, a homestead lessee, was found unconscious at his house at Yanda, and was being driven to Bourke when he expired. A man named White, proceeding from Barringun to Bourke by coach, expired when nearing the Native Dog Bore. Mrs. Wright, while attending an aged dying husband, became ill and died shortly afterwards. Mrs. Honeysuckle, residing at Dyer’s Gates, 27 miles away, succumbed to the heat, and a son-in-law came to Bourke to get a coffin and to arrange with the Railway department to take the corpse on to Mudgee for burial. He returned home, and had just finished soldering the coffin lid when he complained of feeling ill, and died within an hour. The carriage which he ordered conveyed his body also.

At Wagga the day was the hottest experienced during the present trying season, the glass reaching 116½deg. in the shade.

The cases of illness through the excessive heat are numerous, and serious consequences are feared if the present temperature continues. There were no indications of a

change.

Wilcannia made a record with 123 in the shade. The nights are close, with not a breath of wind. Everyone is completely prostrated, and business is virtually at a standstill. Several further cases of sunstroke are reported.

Residents of 30 years’ standing on the Darling say they have felt nothing to equal this long stretch of unparalleled heat. There does not appear to be the slightest prospect of a change. Mr. Edward M’Farland, district surveyor, who arrived from Bourke on January 22, says the journey

was terribly fatiguing, and it was like facing a fiery blast the whole distance.