Name: Des Morrish

Age: 83
Occupation during 1939: Log-yardy at Downey Timber Mill and member of the Warburton Fire Brigade.
Age at time of fire: 19
Location of interview: Melbourne

"Warburton was burning all the way out to Matlock, Woods Point and everywhere, and of course everybody was calling for help."

Well, it had been burning for many weeks because back in those times they had fires burning around and they didn’t take much notice of them. And then the right day came, and the wind came up and then all Victoria was on fire.

At Warburton, we hadn’t gone back to work because I belonged to the fire brigade and that Friday morning, Max Sparkes, who was the Fire Brigade Captain and Harry Martyr, who had the bus service from Warburton to Melbourne, were up on the aqueduct which flowed around the side of Mount Victoria. The aqueduct took the water from the O’Shannessey Weir to the Silvan Dam. And we could hear the fire coming like a thousand tornados from Mt. Donna Buang and Ben Cairn and what we thought we were going to do I don’t know.

It came around towards us and then the wind changed. A northerly got behind it and took it down hill, a fire only burns very slowly down hill… it burns very fast up hill, but slowly down, and it went down this creek, burning shrubs and trees that you would have a hard job to burn at the best of times.

Then it crossed the Yarra River, and went up past the chalet and Mount Little Joe was on fire all in the matter of a few seconds. So we cut the fences and took the fire engine down through the golf links, down to Warburton, and all the hills around Warburton were well ablaze by this time. Warburton was burning all the way out to Matlock, Woods Point and everywhere, and of course every body was calling for help.

"And it just sucked big trees, big trees with mounds of dirt on them as big as this room; just sucked them clean out and laid them across the road."

People were saying they wanted the fire engine at Big Pat’s Creek, East Warburton, McMahon’s Creek, it was wanted everywhere. And Max Sparkes said, “This fire engine is here to protect the township of Warburton”. Because all the shops in the valley down the main street of Warburton were built one against another on the side of the valley and the backs of these shops were maybe 12 or 14 feet up off the ground at the back - so had a fire got into the bottom it would have just cleaned the whole township right out.

Max said “We stop here because our pump can pump water from the mains, can pump water from the river, and we have a parallel road where we can retreat from”.

We were there to put out embers and spot fires. And this is a big thing, most of the houses that have been burned have been burnt because with those ferocious fires and trees 300 feet high and the wind blowing pieces of the bark and embers for maybe three or four, five miles; it’d blow it ahead, and they’d drop in around the township near houses and you’re there to put them out, and that stops a house from being burned. We couldn’t do anything out in the bush at the time, you just couldn’t get there. The trees were across the road.

"Bill Dafter and George Sellars were the only two survivors that came out of that side and 15 men died at Matlock."

At Matlock, through to Woods Point, the fire was that fierce, it burned all the oxygen. It raced up into the air, to get more oxygen to burn, and in so doing created a vacuum. And it just sucked big trees, big trees with mounds of dirt on them as big as this room; just sucked them clean out and laid them across the road. And you could walk for miles on trees, from one to the other without touching the road.

After the fires, our main thing was to get into these areas, and find out if there were any survivors and help get them out, that was our main effort because there was no contact by radio or phone. Bill Dafter and George Sellars were the only two survivors that came out of that side and 15 men died at Matlock.

"Well, the Melbourne Cup is always run on the first Tuesday in November, and he was still taking bets on the Friday, three days after the cup was run. That’s how isolated we were."

In fact 1939 was the year war was declared. After the fire was over, salvage was a big thing, and they were singing out for fallers, to fall the timber laid in the scrub. They would cut the burnt trees down and put them into valleys where they’d put water on them to save them, and high climbers, and riggers and fallers were wanted everywhere. I went out to the Tanjil Bren just after the fire and started work as a high-lead climber.

That was the year that little mare Rivette won the Melbourne Cup and the Caulfield Cup, and there was a chappie about 4 miles across from us in the Tanjil Bren and the Melbourne Cup was run on the Tuesday, first Tuesday in November. And this chappie that was working about four miles further across in the bush was still taking bets on the Friday. Well, the Melbourne Cup is always run on the first Tuesday in November, and he was still taking bets on the Friday, three days after the cup was run. That’s how isolated we were.

No radio, no telephone, and we used to have to go to work on a Sunday afternoon and come home the following weekend. And when we got home that weekend we found out war had been declared a week before we knew.

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