1994... Four dead, thousands flee their homes

To mark the 30th anniversary of “CityNews”, social historian and journalist NICHOLE OVERALL has written an eclectic history of Canberra and beyond over the past three decades. Here is 1994.

INFERNO ROLLS ON

“The worst bushfire emergency in NSW in 50 years”.

NSW Bushfire Services Commissioner Phil Koperberg

Eight hundred fires impacting NSW over three weeks, evacuations, lives lost and more than 200 homes and two million acres destroyed. The firefighting response is “one of the largest seen in Australian history” leading to the creation of the NSW Rural Fire Service.

On January 6, fires across Canberra see 30 Woden homes evacuated.

WHEN THE RIVER RUNS DRY

Dalgety locals lament the loss of their river due to the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme of 1949: “… an environmental mistake, if not a disaster”.

AUSTRALIA DAY, January 26, Sydney: 23-year-old student David Kang fires two blanks at the Prince of Wales in protest about Cambodian asylum seekers; NSW Premier John Fahey and Australian of the Year Ian Kiernan protect the king-in-waiting.

GATEWAY TO THE FUTURE

Tech geek Bill Gates stages a record-breaking National Press Club address prophesying the next stage of the information revolution: “the super-highway”.

FINALLY, KELLY PULLS THE PLUG

“Sport Minister Ros Kelly’s $30 million sports rorts grants program [has been] an easy money scheme attracting fraud like flies around a carcass.”

Auditor-General John Taylor

Done on a “great big whiteboard” – hence, “no records” – Minister Kelly resigns from federal cabinet due to accusations of “maladministration” of grants. Less than a year later, having served as the Member for Canberra since 1980, she’d announce her exit from

parliament. Liberal Brendan Smyth (yes, THAT Brendan Smyth) will be her successor – at least until the federal election a year later.

“CANBERRA’S FIFTH TOWN, JERRABOMBERRA”

Consideration of Jerrabomberra as the national capital’s next urban area in addition to Woden, Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin. However, the Queanbeyan suburb had been progressing on the NSW side of the border since 1988…

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE YOUNG

Prime Minister Paul Keating is busy releasing “Working Nation” on upping growth and downing the number of unemployed, and refuting Bob Hawke’s claim his former Treasurer referred to Australia as “the arse end of the world”. Meanwhile, the Libs oust John Hewson for the “youth ticket” of Alexander Downer and Peter Costello.

“It is time for those who do not support the party pursuing these priorities under my leadership to put up or shut up.”

John Hewson, May 21

LOCAL TRAGEDY

In early July, a well-regarded Queanbeyan flying instructor and two Canberra students are killed in a Piper Arrow which crashes in the Southern Highlands. It’s one of a number of Australian air disasters for the year including the loss of a Seaview Aero Commander lost on its way to Lord Howe Island, the nine onboard never found.

AND MOURA MOURNS

The Captains Flat mine – “one of the most important mining sites in Australia” – saw the death of 21 men during its operation between 1882 and 1962 (including Ricky Stuart’s uncle).

Tiny Moura in Central Queensland lost a similar number: 13 miners in 1975 and 12 in 1986. Eight years later, 11 men are trapped more than 260 metres below ground with rescue attempts abandoned after a series of gas explosions.

HERE’S TO THE COMMONWEALTH

Record hauls for the Commonwealth Games in Canada and the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, including 21-year-old multiple-medal Paralympian Michael Milton of Canberra.

“SMH”

9.30pm, Monday, September 5

John Newman, NSW Labor Member for Cabramatta and anti-drug/crime campaigner, is shot outside his home; a political rival sentenced to life for ordering the killing. It’s Australia’s only known political assassination since Liberal political aspirant Donald McKay in Griffith in 1977 for his strong anti-drug stance.

NOW THAT’S A FINALE!

September 25

They’d formed in Queanbeyan in 1981, had their first premiership eight years later, then a back-to-back in 1990. With a 1994 line-up boasting Meninga, Furner, Stuart, Daley and Clyde, the 36-12 drubbing of the Canterbury Bulldogs by the Canberra Raiders produced what some still claim as “the most spectacular tries ever seen in a grand final”.