Episode 1 of 2
Black Thursday Bushfires
- When
- 6 February 1851
- Where
- Port Phillip District
Devastating fires swept the Port Phillip District on 6 February 1851, burning approximately a quarter of its area due to extreme heat and drought.
The fires were caused in part by an intense drought throughout 1850. On 6 February 1851, a strong furnace-like wind from the north gained power and speed. The fires burned up to 5 million hectares, marking the start of documented major fires in the region over the last two centuries.
Sources
- Black Thursday bushfires Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-01
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.