Mercury rises, media melts down
AS temperatures nudged well up into the 40s across the west this week, authorities across the region took to the media to issue warnings to residents to avoid falling victim to the heatwave conditions. The hot spell began on Monday, with the mercury climbing well past comfortable by Wednesday, when temperatures of more than 45 degrees were reported from the far west region including around Bourke and Nyngan. Dubbo’s mercury tipped officially at 42 on Wednesday, while Thursday cooled slightly and a change was expected to blow through the west in time for a reprieve from the heat by today, Friday. With the heatwave conditions came warnings from a number of agencies and authorities, including a total fire ban from the Rural Fire Service ahead of the hot, dry and windy conditions. Firefighters were on standby but mercifully, at the time of going to print, no significant fires had been recorded across the region. However, the RFS is warning residents across the region to remain vigilant. The Western Local Health District also issued urgent warnings for residents to be particularly aware of the potentially lethal affects of heatwave conditions on the elderly and the very young. People were asked to check in on vulnerable relatives and friends, and advice was issued for people to stay hydrated, avoid going outside during the hottest part of the day and to minimise activity where possible. Graziers were also reminded to put plans in place to avoid stock losses during extreme heat. Particularly vulnerable, according to Local Land Services (LLS), are young stock and animals already in poor condition. Police also took to the media to issue a stern warning to people not to leave children or pets in cars. Unfortunately, police still see tragic but preventable incidents involving children left in hot vehicles. The heat also gave social media users plenty to talk about this week, with a particularly busy day in cyberspace on Wednesday. Facebook sizzled with posts and photos about hot cars and searing temps in an entertaining display of heated one-upmanship.
For seasoned bushies like Virginia Carter, it was all a bit of fun, if slightly amusing to see all the fuss over a handful of days during an Australian summer where the mercury climbed past the old ton.
“We’ve all gone a bit silly, haven’t we?” Carter mused when contacted by Weekender. Having grown up and spent much of her young adult life in the far west of the state, around Nyngan and Bourke, Carter is well used to soaring January temperatures, and finds the hype surrounding “heatwaves” all a bit amusing.
“It’s summer. It’s Australia. It gets hot,” she says.
“At the risk of sounding like an old fogie, in the old days we were just a bit more sensible about the heat. “We got out early, did what we had to do before 10am and then hunkered down for the worst of the heat. Then we got going again late in the afternoon.” These days, Carter says, people don’t adjust their day to account for the heat. “And we’ve gone stupid with our clothing. Back then we dressed in cotton and linens. What do we have now? Polyester and viscose… guaranteed to make you hot.” And don’t get her started on “motor cars”. “They’re hot mongrels of things at the best of times,” she hoots. “Now, you go out in the middle of the day and turn the air-con up flat chat, but it takes 20 minutes to cool the car down. It’s silly.
“People don’t adjust their routines like we used to in the old days.” “AND,” she says, now on a roll, “People have these floor to ceiling windows and they don’t shut their curtains. They have the air conditioning pumping 24 hours a day, but they’re not doing the little things like closing the blinds. And no-one has awnings these days. Nothing will heat your house up quicker than hot glass.” Having grown up in the west, Carter says temperatures well into the 40s are not unusual in the least. “The difference is that in those days – in the 50s, 60s and 70s – we didn’t have air conditioning, so people were more resourceful when it came to beating the heat. “I remember them building a dug-out for the nurses at the Nyngan hospital to use to sleep during the day, and they’d hang a sheet up and the gardener would go down and quietly hose the sheet down to help keep the dug-out cool. I had an aunt who nursed there who said that even on the hottest of days, that dug-out would be cool enough for them to have to pull a sheet up.” Carter says she “gets cranky” with the media, particularly television, and the constant coverage that’s “scaring the bejeezus out of everyone”. “They carp on – “oh, there’s a heatwave coming, batten down, we’ll all be rooned” – for days and days. And that just gets everyone all hot and bothered in itself. “I get so cross with them winding people up.
“It’s not hard – just be sensible, hunker down, drink plenty of water, put a cooler on if you have one, a fan or two as well and keep your cool.”
“They carp on – “oh, there’s a heatwave coming, batten down, we’ll all be rooned” – for days and days. And that just gets everyone all hot and bothered to start with.” – Virginia Carter, who spent much of her life in the far west and is amused by all the fuss over high temperatures.