The Otways

"Four of the children became separated from the family and tried to escape to a nearby road. All four died."

Several fires were deliberately lit in the ranges south of Colac in early January 1939. By 9 January, the Blue Gum forest behind Apollo Bay was aflame. The Forests Commission crews and local brigades fought as hard as they could with limited resources and men, but were unable to check the fires. Many settlers on isolated Otway farms shrouded in smoke had no means of knowing that they stood in harm's way.

On Black Friday, the Robinsons' home was directly threatened. Robinson was returned soldier who had taken up his selection at Barongarook ten years previously. His house was situated on a rise with dense-scrub-filled gullies below. He was out cutting firewood when he realised his home and family were in danger. Driven from their house, the family retreated to a small patch of bare ground. In a panic, four of the children became separated from the family and tried to escape to a nearby road. All four died. They were Theresa (14), Mary (12), Vera (10) and Paul Robinson (8). Robinson described the fire as " .. a hell let loose, too terrible to imagine"

After the fire had passed he retrieved the bodies of his children and, with his wife and three surviving children, began to make the long walk to safety. Behind them, the fires continued south towards Lorne, leaping from hilltop to hilltop. Locals and tourists alike were forced into the sea as at least a score of houses burned. Here at least the fire was forced to stop, Bass Strait forming the only effective firebreak on that whole terrible day.

Read more about the 1939 Black Friday fires in the Otways in the Oral History Section