Austrália - Incêndios em meados do Século XIX

Procurando contextos e referências históricas, de fontes Australianas, face aos incêndios em curso na Austrália ao longo das últimas semanas, e que terão consumido já cerca de 6 milhões de hectares e provocado 2 dezenas mortos, recordo, há 168 anos, em meados do século XIX, os incêndios que ficaram conhecidos, na mesma geografia, como "Black Thursday", e que terão consumido cerca de 5 milhões de hectares e provocado 12 mortos. Números muito próximos e na mesma geografia, há 2 séculos.

"(...) The Victorian bushfire known as 'Black Thursday' occurred on 6 February 1851, though fires had been burning for some weeks, At 11am in Melbourne [Australia] the temperature was 47C in the shade with a hot wind blowing from the NNW. Fires raged out of control from Barwon Heads, Victoria, to Mount Gambier, South Australia, while the smoke haze spread as far as Tasmania. Approximately 12 people died and 5 million hectares – approximately a quarter of the state of Victoria - was burnt. Losses included one million sheep and thousands of cattle with many properties and communities destroyed. The fire affected the Wimmera, Portland, Gippsland, Plenty Ranges, Westernport, Dandenong and Heidelberg with extensive damage in Victoria’s Port Phillip district. (...)" in Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR)

Painting "Black Thursday, February 6th. 1851" | Author / Creator: Strutt, William, 1825-1915, artist. Date [1864] Identifier(s) H28049 | Depicts mass of people fleeing bushfires, men on horseback, wagons of women and children, children running, panicked cattle; a thick pall of smoke overhead. oil on canvas ; 106.5 x 343.0 cm. | in State Library Victoria

"Study of bushfire homestead | Turner, painting, 1926 (...) The first bushfires to devastate colonial Victoria in 1851, were also some of the worst in colonial history. Careless use of fire in a very hot, dry summer, on a day with strong winds, led to fires that burnt a quarter of the land now within the state of Victoria. This resource, part of our “Natural Disasters in Australia” series, examines the causes and effects of these terrible fires. Quotes from survivors are also given, as a primary source. (...)" in OpenSTEM, Brisbane