by Dawn Hartog, Captain Toolangi Fire Brigade is one of the 1,217 brigades that make up the Country Fire Authority (CFA), which was established after the disastrous 1939 Black Friday fires, when Charlie Demby, forestry officer and a member of one Toolangi’s...
Bushfires
Memories of Bushfires
by Alex Demby I was born on 30 January 1922. One of my first memories was of the 1926 fires. My mother told me that Mount St Leonard was ablaze. The bullockies used to burn off to get new growth of wild oats. She took me up near the Methodist Church one night, to...
Black Saturday 10th Anniversary
Speech by Margaret O’ConnellCommunity commemorative event held at Castella Central Park, 7 February 2019 My task is to talk about what happened in our Toolangi-Castella community after the 2009 fires, but firstly I want to specially thank the CFA members, DSE staff,...
Black Saturday Bushfires
Black Saturday Bushfires by Steve MeacherSaturday, February 7 The weather conditions in Toolangi on Saturday 7 February 2009 were exactly as we had been warned throughout the previous week, very hot with a blustery wind from the north. As predicted, the fire weather...