The Great Fire of 1899

In the early hours of Sunday morning, 1st October, 1899, a fire broke out that was to be the most extensive and destructive fire that had ever visited the township of Kiama and would change the face of Terralong Street forever.

The fire started in Wood Brothers general store and within minutes the place was ablaze. With the help of a strong southerly breeze, the fire soon spread to adjoining buildings and according to William H Bayley, author of Bluehaven: History of Kiama Municipality, "half the block of shops fronting Terralong Street from Collins Street towards Shoalhaven Street caught fire at 2 a.m. and was destroyed soon after dawn."

Following is an excerpt from the Sydney Morning Herald dated Monday, 2 October, 1899:

"By the time the local police and many others were on the spot, and under the direction of Senior-sergeant Brayne, Alderman Hindmarsh and others, many willing hands made great efforts to prevent the flames catching the Royal Hotel. In spite of their efforts the hotel soon ignited. This building being in part lath and plaster outside blocked the advance of the fire for a time: but ultimately the fire got hold of the place, and being a two-storey wooden structure it soon became a burning maze belching out tongues of fire against the adjoining building."

Unfortunately there was no fire fighting equipment in Kiama at the time – hoses and tank water being the best on offer – so extinguishing the blaze became a huge problem. There are conflicting reports about how the fire was eventually brought to a halt. According to William Bayley: “The spread was only prevented by the demolition by volunteers of F. Wahl's shop with the aid of axes, picks and planks for levers.' The Sydney Morning Herald reported: “The flames advanced steadily from building to building for a distance of about seven chains until they reached the vacant plot of land adjoining the premises of Mr. Alleyne Farr, chemist, whose place narrowly escaped destruction.'

According to Australian Town and Country Journal: "There was no loss of life or stock. All the horses were rescued with nothing more serious than an occasional stampede." Several visitors from Mr. Muir's boarding house, on the hill, rendered every assistance; and the township turned out almost to a man, and numbers of ladies also rushed to the scene of the conflagration and assisted their fellow women. Good service was rendered by Mr. Geo. Knight, watchmaker, by timely disconnecting the rod attaching the post office clock to the dial, and utilising the bell as a fire alarm, the tones as he rang being heard from one end of the township to the other.

The scene at dawn looked extremely weird, everything being demolished except a score of iron tanks and 18 brick chimneys which stand like silent sentinels to mark the desolation.'

Fortunately there was no loss of life but 12 families were left homeless. Sixteen shops and the Royal Hotel were destroyed. Business people reopened businesses in sheds and all types of rooms and premises in other locations whilst their stores were rebuilt in brick.

Estimation of the total cost of the damage was put at between £5000 and £6000.

And then ten weeks later, it happened again.....

On December 15th 1899, just two and a half months after the first devastating blaze another awful fire consumed a block of six shops in Terralong Street. These buildings had previously survived due to “strenuous efforts and prompt demolition of a shop on the opposite side of a green about 20 yards wide.”

Whilst no cause can be assigned for the fire, it is believed that the fire originated in the second of two shops occupied by Messrs Simmons Brothers, grocers, drapers and general storekeepers, at the Shoalhaven Street end of the block. When discovered, the fire had a great hold, and there was absolutely no hope of saving any portion of the block.

The alarm was given and shortly after 4 o’clock the fire bell rang. A vast crowd quietly collected on the scene, but beyond hurried efforts at saving a few articles of furniture and stock nothing could be done, the flames spreading all over the block with such appalling rapidity that within an hour and a half from the discovery of the fire only the bald brick chimneys were left standing as company for similar silent and grim sentinels, which now stretched from Collins Street on the west to Shoalhaven Street on the east.

At one time, Tory’s 'fine brick' hotel, on the opposite corner of Shoalhaven Street, was in great danger, as were also the 'Independent' Printing Office.  The eaves of Tory’s Hotel balcony actually caught fire, and all exposed wooden parts were blistered and scorched. Fortunately a hose affixed to a pump at the rear of the hotel was kept playing on the building in the face of intense heat and the building was saved. The “Independent” newspaper office was also saved through similar means.

The Independent said that the “conflagration in its intensity and rapidity of destruction”, eclipsed the October 1 fire as the instances of loss by the shopkeepers was “far greater and harder to be borne”. It had a most depressing effect on the people of the town.  According to Australian Town and Country Journal, 23rd December, 1899, “Mrs Hammill, (wife of R H Hammill, fruiterer) was prostrated by the shock.  She states that, on being roused, and rushing down to her shop, the flames were breaking through the wall from Simmons’s drapery department next door.”

One of the destroyed shops was occupied by George G Prott, hairdresser, tobacconist and fancy goods. This gentleman had been a victim of the last fire in the same street so that in his case the catastrophe is particularly unfortunate. He had just had his stock renewed and premises fixed up.

The fire reshaped the main street of Kiama and explains why all current buildings in that block date from after this time. However the rebuilders used many of the walls and foundations of the former shops when constructing many of those still in existence today.

The Great Fires also hastened the installation of the water supply and the establishment of the Kiama Fire Brigade.