Acrylic on canvas representing a childhood memory of the 1967 Bush Fires

Title: Acrylic on canvas representing a childhood memory of the 1967 Bush Fires
Description: Cheryl was only 5 and a half and on her first day at Sorell District School when the 1967 Bush Fires struck. The Headmaster at the time Mr. Herb Broxham, realising the danger as the fires swept towards the school, had the children loaded onto school buses. They disembarked halfway across the Causeway and sent to shelter and safety down on the rocks by Orielton Lagoon, each infant in the charge of an older child.
Cheryl's home, being close to the Causeway at the Midway Point end, she could see nothing but black smoke, flames and flying embers crossing the road where her home should have been. She was convinced that her home was gone and her family had perished in the flames.
Her mother was waiting to meet the school bus on the other side of the inferno and was so relieved when a figure trotted up the centre of the road out of the smoke. One of the senior boys called out "she's safe on the Causeway Mrs. P" as he made his way to give other parents the glad news.
Donor: Margaret Prestedge
Maker: Cheryl Denholm
Date Made: 2015
Physical Format: Oil painting on a pair of stretched canvases. Each canvas 300mm wide x 400mm high.
Registration Number: 25/29
Rights: Sorell Historical Society
Storage Location: North Room