Page:ChroniclesofEarlyMelbournevol.1.pdf/486

and feeling the effect of thefierywind sweeping along, she hastily re-entered, declaring it was like the Day of Judgment. In a few minutes a crash yvas heard as of a peal of thunder, and instantly the hut was a sheet offire.T h e horror-stricken inmates endeavoured to break through the flames, the father madly trying to save the children. All, however, he could do yvas to take the boy Johnny, his pet child, eight years old. and dash out yvith him through the furnace. A creek of yvater was close by, and almost surrounded the hut, and for this M'Lelland m a d e ; but short as was the distance, it was too m u c h for the little boy, yvho faintly begged his " daddy to lay him down," and, with the words, died from heat and exhaustion. M'Lelland then placed the body on the ground, and, maimed and half dead himself, succeeded in reaching a creek about ioo yards off, into yvhich he plunged, and, buried to his neck in the water, was able with m u c h difficulty to keep alive until the worst yvas over. T h e yvife and the other four children forced their yvay out of the hut after the father, but died a feyv yards away in the bush. T h e six corpses, or what remained of them, were collected, placed in a bullock dray, and sent to Melbourne, and they arrived at Fitzroy about 9 o'clock on Saturday evening. T h e husband was brought in about half-an-hour after, and was an object of deep commiseration. H e yvas so severely burnt and yveakened that there yvere but faint hopes of his recovery. O n e of his arms was little more than a charred bone. AVhere the King's College noyv stands in Nicholson Street, facing Faraday Street, there yvas a rakishly rigged-up hostelry known as the Traveller's Rest, and here the bullock team with its load of roasted corpses pulled up, and the dead yvere moved inside. Dr. AVilmot, the Coroner, decided upon holding the inquest there the same night, and this having become generally known, there was a large exodus of people from Melbourne to the place. It was moonlight, and the m o o n has hardly looked upon a more ghastly spectacle from that day to this. It yvas m y painful duty to be present, and the impression engraven on m y mind has never been erased. Stretched on a bed yvas the invalid husband, writhing and groaning piteously; and though his evidence yvas considered desirable, to use him as a yvitness was out of the question. Laid out on a tarpaulin in an outhouse yvere the six corpses, unshapen masses of blackened bones and grilled flesh; all except the poor mother unrecognizable, and the baby more than half consumed. A jury yvas empanelled, and after the sickening though necessary ceremonial of " viewing" yvas gone through, Alexander Miller, a shepherd in M'Lelland's employ, was examined, and his testimony disclosed as additional facts : That, though there were fires in the Ranges for some days before, they did not approach nearer than ten miles to M'Lelland's place until the Thursday morning. H e yvas out driving his sheep to yvater when he saw the flames coming rapidly toyvards him through the bush with a loud hissing, crackling noise ; and getting alarmed he hurried the sheep back toyvards the homestead to have them as m u c h as possible out of danger. O n arriving there about noon the place yvas onfire,and he shouted loudly but received no answer. T h e fire n o w began to press him so closely as to compel him to abandon the sheep and run for his life, the flames almost up to his heels. AVith his utmost speed and much difficulty he kept ahead until he arrived at the creek, into yvhich he plunged head foremost, and remained there with only his chin upyvard above water, scarcely daring to move, and not emerging from his unpleasant bath until dark, when he crept forth and approached to yvhere he had left the hut; but there yvas not a trace of it remaining. Going back to a portion of the creek from which the family used to fetch water, he there found M'Lelland up to his neck, and helped him out. Inquiring after the woman and children, he was told they were all dead, and both he and his master then lay d o w n on the bank of the creek, remaining there until the morning, when M'Lelland proposed that they should go in search of the bodies; but the witness strongly advised that before doing so they should proceed to the station of Dr. Ronald (about three miles distant) for assistance, and this they did. Here M'Lelland, w h o was unable to travel further, remained, and Miller procured at the Bridge Lnn a bullock team and dray, and returned to M'Lelland's, where he found Dr. Ronald, Peter Hunter and John Parish. H e was then shown, lying with their faces to the ground, the six dead bodies or what remained of them. They yvere found some twenty yards from the hut, and had not been moved. T h e eldest boy was about a dozen yards from the others. Not a scrap of clothing remained on any of them. They were stark naked, black, and burnt. A verdict of " Accidental Death " yvas returned. Next day, Sunday, all the burnt remnants were coffined and interred in the Melbourne Cemetery, and M'Lelland was transferred to the Hospital, where he slowly recovered, and lived for a few years.