ruins

Beautiful Picture! Any idea when it was taken?

Bundaberg Distillery fire turned the Burnett into a river of rum BY MICK ROBERTS DURING a fierce electrical storm in 1936 a lightning bolt sparked a fire that completely destroyed Queensland’s famous Bundaberg rum distillery. Half a million gallons of rum and 100,000 gallons of methylated spirits (a by-product of rum) stood in the storage sheds. From the shattered casks and the split tanks “poured flaming streams of blazing spirit” as the fire put on a spectacular, but the disastrous display for the people of Bundaberg. Leslie F. Hannon wrote in a Sydney Morning Herald story on Saturday, September 21, 1946 that the spirit burned with a fierce blue flame, flowing into the nearby Burnett River. The following day after the fire the fish in the Burnett River was reportedly drunk on proof rum! “From 200lb gropers out of the holes under the railway bridge to inch-long sprats from the gravel shallows, the fish floated on the river, some turning over and over slowly, but most just floating,” Hannon wrote. “Every serviceable boat for miles around was pressed into service, and fish was on every table in the district.” FISH WERE DRUNK IN RUM RIVER… rum river THE people of Bundaberg (Qld) still tell the story of when the Burnett became literally a river of rum. On Saturday night, November 21, 1936, a fierce electrical storm broke over the district. Jagged lightning darted through the wild, cloudy sky. The rising land from the river-bank, known in the district as Magnetic Hill, had always been an attraction for lightning, and on this night a great bolt flashed down, touching the distillery with its finger of fire. Within a space of minutes, the buildings were blazing. Half a million gallons of rum and 100,000 gallons of methylated spirits [a by-product of rum] stood in the storage sheds. Fire-fighting bands raced to the distillery, leaving their Saturday night entertainments. But it was too late. Loud explosions began to ring the eardrums of the watchers, and from the shattered casks and the split tanks poured flaming streams of blazing spirit. It was a great sight. The spirit burned with a fierce blue flame and a searing heat. Down the banks and into the Burnett it flowed. While the spirit burned, the whole river from bank to bank was covered by a low curtain of flickering blue flame. The next day was a Sunday that will never be forgotten in Bundaberg. Source: timegents.com/2019/01/13/bundaberg-distillery-fire/

Manila City Hall