Hobart Fire

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The 1967 Hobart Fire occurred on 7 February 1967.

Bushfires in Tasmania are quite common but not as big as mainland bushfires, because of its mild and moist climate. But on 7 February 1967 this situation was changed in just 5 hours.

The wind caused isolated fires to join and become even larger, and eventually surrounding the city of Hobart. The fires spread from 110 different points, eighty nine were believed to have started burning before the dreadful day when the fires just seemed to flare up. The devastation that these fires caused was horrific; 62 people lost their lives – 53 directly and 9 indirectly, over a thousand homes were destroyed and the loss of stock, particularly sheep, and productive farming land was huge. On the edges of Hobart factories were damaged and the historically important convict ruins at Port Arthur were ruined.

The conditions of the hot summer that year had dried out the bush vegetation that had grown prolifically because of heavy spring rain of 1966. Residents in the areas with many more trees had started to burn off the undergrowth. All would have been fine if it hadn’t been for the strange weather conditions on 7 February. The temperatures reached 39.4°C the hottest day of that century in Hobart, and the winds were going at an amazing speed of 130 km/h. Reports into the causes of the fire stated that only 22 of the 110 fires were started accidentally.

As many as 110 separate fire fronts burnt through some 2,642.7 square kilometres (653,025.4 acres) of land in Southern Tasmania within the space of five hours. Fires raged from near Hamilton and Bothwell to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. There was extensive damage to agricultural property in the Channel, the Derwent Valley and the Huon Valley. Fires also destroyed forest, public infrastructure and properties around Mount Wellington and many small towns along the Derwent estuary and east of Hobart.