Historical and Other Notes

The monument commemorates five volunteer Geelong West  firefighters who lost their lives in the December 1998 bushfire. It is erected at the site of the tragedy. On 2 December 1998, a bushfire burned through private land and state forest near the township of Linton and fire fighters from the Department of Natural Resources and Country Fire Authority (CFA) were deployed to fight the fire. At approximately 8:45 p.m., two CFA tankers and their crews were trapped and engulfed in fire following an unexpected wind change. The crew of one of those trucks, five men from Geelong, all volunteers from the Geelong West Brigade were killed. The coronial inquest examining the fire and the deaths was one of the longest-running inquests in the history of the state. This inquest led to changes in safety operating procedures in the CFA. GOLDFIELDS OF THE LINTON AREA Gold was discovered in the gullies about 2km north of the  present-day  town of Linton, in the area around what is now the cemetery, in 185

MINING TRAGEDY Kalgoorlie Miner (WA:1895 - 1954), Thursday 16 February 1933, page 4 FOUL AIR IN SHAFT TWO MINERS SUFFOCATED.  FATALITY AT BUNINYONG. Melbourne, Feb. 15. Overcome by foul air, two miners named Albert Berger (68), and Arthur Dunstan (34), were suffocated in a prospecting shaft at Buninyong yesterday. The men were associated with William Sergeant and Robert Drummond in a mining venture. The I shaft was down 60 feet in dry workings and the installation of an air pipe was being made when the accident occurred. Berger and Sergeant were operating the windlass. Dunstan had set one length of pipe in position at the bottom of the shaft and then began the fitting of the second length about 26 feet from the mouth of the shaft. Berger and Sergeant suddenly noticed Dunstan release his hold of the rope and fall headlong down the shaft. Berger immediately decided to go to his assistance and was lowered by Sergeant. He found Dunstan alive but injured and called out to Sergeant to go for