As Australia sweltered under a scorching heatwave last weekend, stretching from the western interior to the tropical Queensland coast, many Australians found themselves wondering if the country had ever experienced such blistering conditions.
However, history reveals that Australia has faced even more harrowing heatwaves, including a 24-day heatwave killed 437 people in Australia in January 1896.
The temperature was above 38 degrees for nearly a month, bushfires raged across the country and people dropped dead in the streets.
The extreme weather event was described as feeling ‘like a furnace’ and recorded much higher temperatures than parts of Australia are currently sweltering through.
1896 got off to a hot start and by January 14, newspapers were reporting people were dying from a range of complications brought on by the extreme temperatures.
By the third week of the year, 12 infants had died from heat-related illnesses in Goulburn, NSW, alone, a report on JoNova about the heatwave revealed.
People were fleeing cities on trains to seek refuge in mountains and hills, but one child escaping the heat ‘died at the moment the train arrived’.
Hospitals were at breaking point, and the death toll was rising.
In Australia, Bureau of Meteorology data found 2024 was the second hottest on record going back to 1910 and the warmest for night time temperatures. Bathers on Bondi Beach are pictured
An extreme Australian heatwave in January 1896 killed over 400 people and hospitalised many more. Wilcannia Hospital is pictured
By January 17 the mercury had climbed to 48.9C in Bourke, in north-west NSW – although there has been some dispute about the accuracy in temperature recordings due to changing methods over time.
‘The hospital is crowded, and a number of people are dangerously ill. More deaths are hourly expected,’ a newspaper article from January 18, 1896 read.
The heat was sending people ‘insane’, leaving them helplessly wandering the streets before collapsing and falling dead.
Cattle died by the hundreds, water tanks dried up and the death toll continued to rise as the heatwave entered its fourth week.
Many children were among those who died in the intense heatwave of 1896
Newspapers (pictured) at the time reported temperatures above 119F (48C)
Trains leaving Sydney’s west for the mountains were packed and the government ran extra services at discount prices for those seeking relief from the heat.
By January 24 the heatwave was declared ‘an unprecedented record’, and the death toll in Bourke alone had reached 35.
‘The residents are really panic-stricken, and hundreds are leaving for cooler climates’, one newspaper report revealed.
Most businesses across NSW had closed their doors by this point, except for hotels, as residents laid low waiting for the weather to cool.
In other parts of the country temperatures had not dropped below 37 degrees since late 1895.
The historic heatwave saw temperatures climb to 49 degrees and forced people to flee to the mountains in search of reprieve. Brewarrina is pictured in 1900
The 1896 heatwave saw people dropping dead in the streets as the stifling heat stretched on for 24 days. In Bourke (seen here in 1893) temperatures were nudging 50C
Almost 130 years on from that traumatic and deadly summer, Australia is now in the peak of a severe weather season, ranging from heatwaves to torrential rain and thunderstorms.
This summer has already been extreme, with a national mean maximum of about 2 degrees above average.
Alice Springs has had an average daily high of 38.6C since the start of December, which is far above its long term mean of just below 36C.
Other parts of central Australia are experiencing even higher temperatures – up to the mid-40s – at the moment.
In Queensland, the coast from from Cooktown to Proserpine is in a run of days of around 35C, with minimums as high as 27C.
Combined with high humidity, it makes for a very uncomfortable time in the region, with the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) putting parts of tropical east Queensland in the ‘extreme’ heatwave category, indicating dangerous risks to health.
Last year was the hottest year the world has ever recorded, scientists confirmed, with temperatures were 0.12C above 2023, the previous warmest year on record.
In Australia, BoM data found 2024 was the second hottest on record going back to 1910 and the warmest for night time temperatures.
Worldwide, 2024 was the first calendar year on record to exceed 1.5C above the pre-industrial level, and already this summer the national mean maximum has been about 2 degrees above average.
Perth
Tuesday: Cloud clearing.Min18 Max26
Wednesday: Sunny. Min15 Max29
Thursday: Sunny. Min 19 Max38
Adelaide
Tuesday: Sunny. Min17 Max32
Wednesday: Possible shower.Min19 Max26
Thursday: Partly cloudy. Min15 Max25
Melbourne
Tuesday: Partly cloudy. Min17 Max28
Wednesday: Shower or two. Min 19 Max28
Thursday: Shower or two. Min 15 Max22
Hobart
Tuesday: Cloudy. Min15 Max21
Wednesday: Showers increasing. Min15 Max25
Thursday: Possible shower. Min15 Max23
Canberra
Tuesday: Possible shower or storm. Min15 Max31
Wednesday: Showers. Possible storm. Min15 Max33
Thursday: Possible shower. Min15 Max26
Sydney
Tuesday: Partly cloudy. Min21 Max29
Wednesday: Shower or two. Possible storm. Min22 Max31
Thursday: Shower or two. Min21 Max26
Brisbane
Tuesday: Possible shower.Min21 Max31
Wednesday: Mostly sunny. Min22 Max31
Thursday: Shower or two. Min22 Max 33
Darwin
Tuesday: Shower or two. Possible storm. Min25 Max34
Wednesday: Shower or two. Possible storm. Min26 Max33
Thursday: Showers. Min25 Max32
