Many local residents of the Bellinger Valley are familiar with floods but not as many have experienced bushfires. Posts appearing recently on the Facebook group 'So You Are From Bellingen' have been discussing past fires in the district. Many people recall the fires from the 1960s, though far fewer remember the major bushfire which occurred in our district in 1951.
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Local newspapers tell of bushfires happening in the Bellinger area in 1936, 1946, 1951, 1957, 1964 and 1968. Articles also mention the rubbish tip fires of 1975. Many of these bushfires occurred in the month of November, following our driest months of July, August and September. The bushfires of 1951 and 1968 were particularly serious, causing grave concern and tension in the district.
1950s
On 26 August 1951, a bushfire blazed fiercely through the Scotchman Ridge west of Bellingen, prompting a bushfire danger period proclamation. Fire brigades were concerned the fire would approach the hospital. The danger period continued into late October 1951 when high velocity winds produced rapidly spreading fires that menaced homes and farms along Thora Road and Kalang. Two fires threatened the western side of the Bellingen township. As well, the Gleniffer brigade fought a huge outbreak and saved threatened property in the vicinity of Buffer Creek and Gordonville.
In the same week towards the end of October 1951, terrible fires at Bowraville and Valla swept across the ranges, burning most of the forest land on the South Arm side. Other fires that were started by belated attempts at burning off added to the fire danger. Fires burned from Valla to the Raleigh / Urunga area. Fire also engulfed the hills behind Fernmount, burning out as it reached the green flats of the farming areas.
November 1951 saw a bushfire in Gleniffer become a racing inferno in scrub country between Gleniffer and Valery. At one stage 38 firefighters were battling the Gleniffer fire. It was estimated that on McGrath's Hump and adjoining properties, over 2000 acres of forest and grass was burnt.
By the end of 1951, the fires had burnt out 60,000 acres in the shire and many fences, outbuildings and pastures were destroyed. The Forestry Department found the fires were man-made with two caused by billy fires, one from a discarded cigarette and 14 from indiscriminate burning off.
In November 1957, "bushfire danger was brought to Bellingen's door step" when a large fire burning towards the Scotchman area from Boggy Creek crept right up to the reservoir hill.
1960s
In November 1964, a fire started at the top of Ford Street Bellingen and began to spread in a westerly direction before being stopped at Hospital Hill.
During the 1968 fire period, the creeks and rivers were the lowest they had been for many years, with the South Arm of the Bellinger River in the Kalang area running dry. Whenever the stream ran over stone beds, it disappeared under the gravel. This had not been seen for over half a century.
Heat wave conditions and north westerly winds in November 1968 fanned raging bushfires. Temperatures reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 C). Fires burned at McGrath's Hump, Horseshoe Road, Gladstone State Forest, Kalang and the Brinerville area of the upper North Arm. Fires also burned in Little North Arm and the Gordonville to Gleniffer area. The APM, Forestry and volunteer brigades fought the fires. A tractor trail was cut with the object of stopping the fire spreading into the northern range and Moombil area. Another tractor trail was cut from Horseshoe Road down to both the North and South Arm of the river about ten miles from Bellingen.
Fires on the Scotchman range and the Bellinger South Arm caused thick smoke. It must have been somewhat similar to the current smoky conditions facing residents because on 29 November 1968, the heading of the Bellinger Courier-Sun newspaper read 'Smoke haze envelops whole district'.
