£50,000 mill fire at Murray Bridge

It was the largest structure in Murray Bridge, with an electric generating plant that also supplied the town with electricity.

At 1.40am on the eighth of April, 1920, flames were seen coming from the third floor of the new mill.

The fire could not be put out despite desperate attempts to stop it with buckets of water carried from the lower floor.

Although the mill had a water service and a fitted fire hose on every floor, there was no water pressure to put out the fire.

Only a trickle came out of the mill’s fire hose; the employees could not even fill a bucket.

The flames burned through the ceiling into the top floor, through the roof, bursting through the windows.

The heat was so intense.

Large sheets of burning metal were hurled into the air, giving rise to safety concerns for the surrounding buildings.

The third and fourth story collapsed into the lower floors and soon the whole mill was ablaze.

There was no hope of saving the mill and without the directions of Mr Ferguson, the mill manager, giving instructions to save machinery there may have been a larger mishap of an exploding boiler.

By lunchtime the building was still smouldering, 50 men were unemployed, businesses were thrown into chaos, and there was no electricity to the town.

Provisions had to be made to go back to kerosene lights but kerosene was scarce.

The railway station had to revert to gas.

The wharves were in need of a solution as the electric cranes used the same electric supply.

A temporary electrical plant was installed to supply the town services; this was later sold to a private company.

The coroner found the mill was destroyed by fire but there was no evidence to show how the fire originated.

River Murray Milling Company restored the building and continued operations until 1925 when they sold to Noske Bros.

Murray Bridge and District Historical Society Inc.

“A Community Saving Our Past”