Name: Beryl Fraser

Age: 84
Occupation during 1939: Housewife. Talks about the death of her father William (Bill) Illingworth and her brother Harry Illingworth.
Age at time of fire: 20
Location of interview: Warburton

"They were at Matlock and they all got trapped up there - I believe that they tried but there was no way to get out."

My Leo and I were living in Melbourne. We were married then and I was expecting a baby.

My mother lived at East Warburton, and we had been up there for Christmas for a couple of weeks. We went home in early January, and there were fires around, but not like there were a bit later. We got home and we didn’t know anything more about it, until we got word about Dad. It came over the air - we weren’t notified.

Leo’s brother heard it on the radio and came up to where we were living. He said that he wanted to see Leo down stairs, so he went down to see what was going on and he told him that it came over the air that my father had died in the bushfires. Even Mum wasn’t notified at the time and of course you can imagine the shock. Leo wouldn’t tell me straight away because I was expecting a baby in 6 weeks - and I said to him, “Look, if Dad’s died in the fires, Harry will be too because he wouldn’t leave Dad”. Anyway, when we got down there, we found out it was the two of them.

"Mr Sellars survived by putting a blanket in a tank of water and rolling himself up in the blanket and rolling on the ground. He was the only survivor from the Fitzpatrick Mill at Matlock."

William Illingworth, my father was in the mill at Matlock and so was my brother. They were at different mills. Dad would have been 65 in May and my brother was 26.

They were at Matlock and they all got trapped up there - I believe that they tried but there was no way to get out. They tried to burrow into the sawdust pile and of course, the saw dust caught on fire, and they all got burned except Mr Sellars, who was the only survivor. Mr Sellars survived by putting a blanket in a tank of water and rolling himself up in the blanket and rolling on the ground. He was the only survivor from the Fitzpatrick Mill at Matlock.

My brother was at a different mill. The people at his mill got out, but he didn’t go with them. He wanted to go and see if my father was safe. So he was running to the other mill, which couldn’t have been that far away, and he got caught. He died getting through a fence or something; he was overcome with the smoke. He died there.

"I think their house was made of fibro. He’d just got down the road, down to the corner when it blew up."

It was dreadful, because five years before that, my eldest brother got killed in a motor-bike accident. I’m the second youngest of 12 kids.

Well the fire was all around Mt. Bride and all around Warburton and everyone had to get out. They came into Warburton to the football ground I think it was. They were either on the football ground or in the mechanics hall at Warburton.

My other brother lived about a mile away from my Mum and he was still in his house at the time because he was on crutches. As the fire came through he was in the kitchen getting his lunch ready. His wife was in the river, not far from their house.

He was opening a tin of sardines at the table for his lunch, and he got too hot and he had to leave. And he said to himself, “Oh, I’ve got to get out of here, I’m too hot”. So he got on his crutches and he started to get down onto the road towards where his wife was and his house blew up, and he lost everything he had.

I think their house was made of fibro. He’d just got down the road, down to the corner when it blew up.

"These days they’d be sued wouldn’t they, they’d be sued nowadays for not having a dug-out at a mill when they were supposed to."

We were all in shock. One of my sisters lived up there next door to my mother and they got smoke affected eyes. Doctors were attending them in Warburton and giving them drops in their eyes.

The government paid for the two funerals - well, the one funeral, they were together you know - they paid for that, and they paid for the headstone on the graves down there. But there were other people as well. Leo had a cousin that went in the same fire - he was buried up at Deniliquin.

Everybody was sad and even the neighbours and local people couldn’t believe what had happened. My brother was a good footballer and he was really one of the best up here, all the footballers were devastated. I don’t know what they said to Mum, but they carried his coffin to the grave.

"But if they’d had a dug-out, all those men that died at Matlock would have been saved. It makes me angry when I think about it - why didn’t they have a dug-out?"

I never heard anything about who was to blame or anything like that because the fires were all over Victoria, it was everywhere. These days they’d be sued, wouldn’t they, they’d be sued nowadays for not having a dug-out at a mill when they were supposed to.

But if they’d had a dug-out, all those men that died at Matlock would have been saved. It makes me angry when I think about it - why didn’t they have a dug-out?

WATCH MOVIE

Read more about how dug-out's could have saved many lives in the 1939 Black Friday bushfires in the Royal Commission section