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"The other four children made for the nearby road, where they were trapped by the flames. They were dead when the father found them." "They were on the point of collapse and almost crazed with the awful tragedy of the loss of the other children." "When he later found those unfortunate children they were lying in pairs in the order they walked to school." "Could a more frightful situation be pictured? The little group in the sweltering fumes of the stinging furnace." "One will never forget the ineffable sadness on this unfortunate man’s face as he spoke of his dear dead children" |
 Colac District’s Fearful Tragedy
Four Children Burnt To Death – Family Trapped By Flames At Barongarook – Survivors’ Miraculous Escape.
16 January 1939
The most terrible thing about the fires in the Colac district on Friday was the death of four children at Barongarook ... The husband and wife and four other children, including a baby of six months, had a miraculous escape. Their home and all personal effects were destroyed. The victims of the tragedy, all of them children of Mr and Mrs John Robinson, were: TERESA ROBINSON, aged 13 years. About two o’clock, as the members of the family were in the house, with startling suddenness the fire surrounded and enveloped the building in flames. The family made a frantic dash for safety. Mr and Mrs Robinson and four children ran into the garden, while the other four children, apparently terror stricken, made for the nearby road, where they were trapped by the flames. They were dead when the father found them, and brought their bodies in. Two of the children who were saved collapsed with the terrific heat and thick pall of smoke, but were revived by immersing them in water. The surviving members of the family set out to walk through the blackened bush, with the flames still roaring around, toward Barongarook. They were met by Mr John Flanigan, one of a search party which went from Barongarook to reach them. They were taken to Mr T Neale’s home, some miles away. Mrs Robinson’s feet were badly burned on the frightful journey. They were on the point of collapse and almost crazed with the awful tragedy of the loss of the other children. Everything possible for them was done at Mr Neale’s. The bodies were brought to Colac by the police and Mr T Neale and his son, Mr W Neale. Fathers pathetic story Speaking on Saturday morning to a representative of the ‘Colac Herald’, Mr Robinson said the fire came around their home with the suddenness of an ‘earthquake’. He realised the danger at once, and told his wife that, although their chance of safety was exceedingly slight, if they did what he told them they might survive the terrible danger. He got his wife and the surviving children and ran into the garden, where he found a bare patch of ground not more than three yards square. The father attempted to get the other four children, but they made a frantic dash for the track which they used to go to school. When he later found those unfortunate children they were lying in pairs in the order they walked to school. When he told his wife of their fate she became distracted, and it was with difficulty he prevailed upon her the necessity for remaining calm. Mr Robinson, who showed strains of the awful ordeal through which he had passed, said that he himself had to put a check upon his feelings to prevent a mad desire to rush into the flames too. Could a more frightful situation be pictured? The little group, with a baby of six months, on that tiny patch of ground with the hot, fiery, blazing blast whipping the flames practically over them. They were almost suffocated in the sweltering fumes of the stinging furnace. Mr Robinson had his clothes afire several times and his wife had her shoes burnt from her feet, and her clothes too were at times alight. How they managed to survive he does not know. Their mouths were parched, and the baby and the younger children suffered terribly. To relieve their distress Mr Robinson, when there was a lull in the fierce fire, went down to the creek for water to assuage their sufferings. With a bucket in his hand he struggled down to the gully, and the smoke was so dense that he found it difficult to find his way there and back. His heroism was eventually rewarded and the precious liquid was taken back to the stricken little band. Mr Robinson was still dazed with the awful experience in that inferno. How they got through to Neale’s seems like a nightmare. … One will never forget the ineffable sadness on this unfortunate man’s face as he spoke of his dear dead children. ...The bereaved father said that only the day before, he came home from chopping wood. He was not sick, but had a premonition that something awful was going to happen [CH, 16/1/39] Read more about the Robinson family tragedy in the Oral History Section |
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