February 1926 was the height of bushfire season. It was a hot, dry month without any rainfall to speak of. A number of bush and grass fires had already been reported in the Amherst district. Far away in the south-east of the state bushfires raged through the Yarra Valley and Gippsland, reaching their climax on “Black Sunday” 14 February, when 31 people were killed.
Andy Duncan commenced duty as sexton the week before Black Sunday. Amherst was surrounded by tinder-dry bushland. The cemetery itself was overgrown, with dry eucalyptus leaves and pine needles crackling underfoot.
A fire broke out. With no-one to call for assistance, Andy contained the fire and put it out before any great damage was done. The Talbot Leader reported that Mr Duncan “really saved the place”.
Did Jane fight the fire alongside Andy? Or did she keep 3 year old Rene at a safe distance?
Sources
1925–26 Victorian bushfire season – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. [Accessed 05 April 2015].
Australian Geographic. 2011. The worst bushfires in Australia’s history. [Accessed 05 April 15].
Talbot Leader (Talbot, VIC: 1863 – 1948) 20 February 1926. State Library of Victoria.
Featured image: Amherst cemetery 2015. From the author’s collection. Copyright Andrew Palmer.
Andrew's Archives 
Easter is catch-up-on-reading time. I really feel as though I know your family from your posts. They tell a tale of an Australian family so representative of their time. My grandfather had his bushfire experience . You may have read it at https://boundforoz.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/bushfire-weather-1898-style-red-tuesday/ Happy Easter.
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Thanks, Boundforoz. I hadn’t read your post on bushfires near Apollo Bay – you have an incredible amount of detail there. My post is drawn from one brief Talbot Leader newspaper article.
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I was fortunate as my grandfather wrote down his personal experience then a broader picture came from a newspaper report.
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