I've had a request from a Wilsons Prom park ranger for any information pertaining to 1939 bushfires at the Prom. The Foster Museum does not appear to have anything on file and I have been unable to locate any information from other sources. Can anyone help, please? This was the year of the terrible Black Friday in Victoria which is well documented across the state but the Prom doesn't get a mention anywhere. Cheers and happy 2008 to everyone. Shirley Westaway Foster

Hi Shirley, Best first-hand source for the 1939 fires is the evidence given to the Royal Commission into the 1939 fires. They did concentrate, however, on the great dividing range, and may not have taken evidence from The Prom. The evidence runs to many volumes, I know of sets in the PRO and in the DNRE library. Since your enquiry basically comes from the DNRE I would bounce it back to him and suggest he asks his own Department to look at the DNRE copy for him, and see if The Prom is included. If you have people from Omeo to Mount Useful, the evidence is really good. They had sitting in Maffra, and I think Omeo, and every word given in evidence is recorded. Cheers Linda