Trentham Trumpet ‘The Storm’
The TDHS has regularly been contributing articles to the The Trentham Trumpet in recent years. This story, written by Russell Robinson was published in the Trentham Trumpet in July 2021.
If you would like to look at other previously published Trumpet Newsletters, they are available via their archive https://www.thetrenthamtrumpet.com.au/archives
Many of the stories recorded in The Trumpet, have been gathered together and published in the Trentham Tales. This, along with our other publications, are available from our Online Store.
The Storm
Written by Russell Robinson
Talk to long time locals about last month's storm and they'll tell you it was the worst they've ever experienced in the area.
But lashing rains and gale-force winds are not new to Trentham and surrounds, and over the years have produced their own dramatic headlines and florid descriptions.
For example, on May 31, 1914 The Kyneton Gazette described a weather phenomena as having been "exceptionally severe" with locals being pelted by hailstones the size of "blocks of ice".
So strong was the deluge that the local correspondent reported hail penetrating the slate roof of the Presbyterian church as well as other iron roofs, and "carrying away fencing".
It even did great damage to the apple of orchard of Mr J. Adams, Jun, the paper revealed.
Like last month, the town was left in darkness, with the correspondent complaining that the residents - including himself - "were deprived of current for driving our machinery for the publication of this issue, which had to be brought out by resorting to hand power".
Thirty Five years earlier (1879), the same newspaper carried a gripping account of the recent big storm.
The full extent of the damage to the area was so great, the correspondent claimed, that "it cannot be comprised in a short report".
"It was the most awful hurricane ever known since the first Blackwood rush," he explained.
"Escapes of life and property are too numerous to record, and injuries sustained are so plentiful that there is not sufficient paper in the township to enter into detail.
"Fences are broken down everywhere, and the farms and roads are covered with the trunks and debris of fallen timber."
The report goes on to describe one family's "lucky escape" after a large tree crashed into their house on the road between Trentham and Newbury.
...."smashing furniture and everything of value"....
In many places, the correspondent added, roads are now impassable.
"Trees, some four feet in diameter, stop the way and a visit from the Shire Engineer is anxiously looked for."
Severe storms are a fact of life here and has been captured in verse by our own bush poet, the late Bruce Mackenzie, who wrote:
"Wild winds now becalmed,
"Where once terror was borne'
"Through the Tangle of treetops,
"All tangled and torn."
Although we don’t have many photos of storms of the past, here are a few reminders of those days in June 2021.
