Judge Stretton, the Royal Commissioner on Bush Fires, held a sitting in a marquee amid the ruins of the township of Woodspoint on Friday. Rarely has a Royal Commissioner met in such unconventional surroundings. Hastily the marquee, which is providing a temporary school ‘room’ was converted into a courtroom.

Judge Stretton and the Advocate appearing before him sat at school desks, which were embedded in inches of mud caused by the rains the previous night. On the journey from Mansfield the Royal Commissioner observed the serious effects of erosion after the recent fires. Streams were almost choked with debris, and several wash aways were seen.

Evidence was taken in the marquee while relief work and reconstruction proceeded in the township, which is rising again from its ruins. … William Joseph Francis, timber worker, Woods Point, said that it was folly to suggest that bush fires could be prevented, but disastrous fires like those in January could be greatly reduced by organised burning off in the correct period of the year.

He considered that the Forests Commission’s policy of preserving undergrowth was ‘definitely suicidal’

[MC, 24/2/39]