I have decided to take up the challenge of “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” proposed by Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small blog
Violet was born 7 January 1940 at the Royal Brisbane Hospital the daughter of Myrtle and William Busby.
Violet was Myrtle’s first child and her husband was away fighting in World War Two and that would have been difficult enough for any new mum but there was more to come.
She had only been home a few days when the heatwave struck.
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| Brisbane Courier Mail Jan 26 1940 |
Seeing information that 50 plus people had died so far from the heatwave and all the warnings for the very young and the elderly must have been a very worrying time for Myrtle.
Relief was promised in a few days but even though there were some storms the heatwave did not finish at the weekend as suggested.
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| The temperatures seen during the heatwave |
Although there had been some storms they left behind very high humidity ranging from 65-90% and as the Chief Meteorologist put it ” conditions were many degrees beyond the realm of comfort”.
Finally February 5th there was another major storm system causing flooding which broke the heatwave and also caused a lot of damage.
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| Violet in the laundry basket 1940 |
Finally Myrtle could enjoy her time with her new baby.
It is interesting as our ancestors coped with heat-waves with very little help unlike today when we have fans, air-conditioners etc.
Currently Brisbane is having another few very warm days, in fact likely to break records only beaten by the record temperatures mentioned above in 1940.