John O’Donnell, February 2022

1951/ 1952 bushfire season

The 1951/ 1952 bushfire season for the eastern states was a difficult bushfire season. Important details from the 1951/ 1952 bushfire season have been summarised from Cheney NP (1976) Bushfire Disasters in Australia, 1945–1975, Australian Forestry, 39:4, 245-268:

• During the 1951-52 fire season, extensive areas were burnt in both forest and pastoral areas extending from central Queensland through eastern New South Wales and the mountain forests of Victoria to the South Australian border.
• This season was the most severe experienced in Queensland and New South Wales during the period of review (1945–1975).
• The total number of fires during this season in New South Wales was conservatively estimated by the Forestry Commission of New South Wales at around 5000 and the total area burnt at 4.5 million ha. This represents approximately 5.5 per cent of the total area of the State. The area of State Forest burnt was 0.53 million ha, 1.2 million ha was grassland while the remaining 2.77 million ha was low quality forest and timbered lands under a variety of ownership.
• Although the 1951-52 fire season in Victoria was milder than in New South Wales, State fire authorities rated it as the worst season since 1939. The total forest area burnt was 417,000 ha. There were 6 major forest fires, the largest burning 80 000 ha. Large areas of forest were burnt in east Gippsland, the Upper Murray, and the Western District.
• There is no detailed breakdown of the damage caused by fire during this summer but rough estimates of the total damage in the eastern States has put the figure at £150-230 million.

NSW State library 25 January 1952 bushfire images

There were thirty images in this 25 January 1952 collection.

The author acknowledges the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd for these images.

These images were donated by the Australian Consolidated Press, this is explained in the following administrative note:

“The Administrative / Biographical History. In September 1987, ACP Magazines Ltd. (formerly Australian Consolidated Press) purchased Fairfax Magazines. Pix Magazine and its extensive photographic archive was included in the acquisition. Fairfax Magazines had in turn taken over Associated Newspapers and its subsidiary, Sungravure Pty Ltd, in the 1950s. The collection of historic photonegatives was presented to the State Library of NSW in September 2008 under the Taxation Incentives Scheme for the Arts Cultural Gifts Program.”

Unknown locations of the imagery

The author cannot ascertain the location/s of the bushfires in these images, most likely in Victoria or NSW, possibly Queensland, or possibly a number of states. All bushfires in the images were burning on 25 January 1952.

The author would appreciate any advice as to the location and circumstances of the photos, noting the bushfires were 70 years ago. Details can be provided to: johnodonnell1954@outlook.com

Sorting of this imagery

As noted, there were 30 images in this 25 January 1952 collection, 16 of these have been selected for this article.

The images below have been sorted into three categories:

• bushfire firefighting and techniques;
• bushfire impacts on forests; and
• bushfire impacts on infrastructure.

Text explaining the images or addressing at issue is only used in a small number of cases below the image, as most of the images are self-explanatory.

25 January 1952 – Bushfire firefighting and techniques

25 January 1952 – Bushfire impacts on forests

25 January 1952 – Bushfire impacts on infrastructure

Related story: Major bushfires in Australian history – the 1952 Mangoplah bushfire

About John O’Donnell

John is a retired district forester and environmental manager for hydro-electric construction and road construction projects.   His main interests are mild maintenance burning of forests, trying to change the culture of massive fuel loads in our forests setting up large bushfires, establishing healthy and safe landscapes, fire fighter safety, as well as town and city bushfire safety.