5 gen 1863 anni - Great fire devastates forests

Descrizione:

The great fire of 1863 is thought
to have been the most devastating for the Akaroa landscape.
A first-hand account of this was recorded by Elizabeth Muter, an English visitor to New
Zealand, who documented the extent of the fire and the severity of the threat it posed to
the town's residents. “Since my first view the fires had not only continued to rage, but to
increase; and now from every side down the great basin they were in full march to the
sea. The harbour seemed a mere funnel for the escape of the smoke and the heated air;
while around the furnace glowed square miles of forest in flames... “[W]e walked to the
house of our friends, where every preparation was in progress to turn or check the
flames advancing towards their property, or, if unsuccessful, to carry away their most
valuable effects. For the two last nights they had watched the direction taken by the fires
with the keenest interest, and now nearly all hope had left them. The flames were absolutely roaring up the glen, and down the fern hills, progressing on both sides
towards the town... The inhabitants could be seen in lines beating out the flames with
large boughs of trees, or hurrying in groups to check the inroad of their foe in some new
and unexpected quarter.”88 Fortunately the fires burnt themselves out before they
reached the town. However, Muter noted, all of vegetation around the town was
'devoured' leaving the settlers resolved to leave more extensive clearings around their
homes in the future

Source: https://ccc.govt.nz/assets/Documents/The-Council/Plans-Strategies-Policies-Bylaws/Plans/district-plan/banks-peninsula/AkaroaHistoricalOverview-part-1.pdf

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