“Darkness at noon” - the summer of 1944/45

The drought era of the 1930s and 1940s in Australia was noteworthy for its many dust-storms. Especially bad in this regard was the late spring and summer of 1944/45 over southeastern Australia, after years of drought in the inland had dried out vegetation and loosened the soil.

A foretaste came on Monday 16 October 1944, with widespread dust-storms across western New South Wales. One raged for three hours at Cobar, accompanied by winds strong enough to wreck the local theatre. Brown-yellow dust-clouds soon reached Sydney, requiring lights to be turned on in the afternoon. Four weeks later, on 13 November, a similar event again shrouded NSW, from Broken Hill to Sydney. On the 20th, thick dust blanketed Mildura for eight hours, and the railway lines to Balranald and Moulamein were blocked by sand.

On the morning of 16 December, dust in Adelaide was thick enough to require lights to be turned on; strong northerly winds took this dust over the southernmost areas of South Australia. Again, sand on the tracks disrupted train travel, this time blocking the line from Peterborough to Mannahill. Two more dust-storms followed at five-day intervals: the first coated extensive areas south and east of Oodnadatta, including Canberra; the second was concentrated over the Victorian Mallee. The year ended with eastern South Australia again blanketed by a dense pall of dust on 29 December; in Adelaide the lights were on from mid-morning.

Conditions did not improve in the New Year. On 24-25 January 1945, dust-storms mantled northern and western Victoria, and western NSW. Perhaps the worst day was Tuesday 30 January: in Victoria only the Western district and Gippsland escaped the dust. In Mildura, the dust was accompanied by a southwesterly gale, and power was lost for two hours. Four children on their way home from school lost their way, and weren’t found until the storm subsided. At Broken Hill red dust filled the air for hours; in Albury, a thick red pall brought semi-darkness. Dust-clouds extended as far north as Trangie in Queensland and Nyngan in NSW. Rains in February failed to reach the parched inland areas, and dust again blanketed northwest Victoria and much of NSW on 28 February. As late as 23 March, the sun over Melbourne appeared curiously blue through a pall of dust.

The experience of the 1994-45 season raised much concern about soil erosion, and the need for preventive measures.

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