Bushfire Memorial Print Page

The Memorial was erected in memory of Johan Hendrick Hilliger, Robert Henry Johnston, George McCorkill and John Francis Wiltshire-Butler who perished in the course of duty with the Forestry Department on 2 January 1958 (they died fighting a fire).

Fifteen children have been left fatherless by a tragedy in which four forestry workers were burnt to death in a bushfire near Nannup on Thursday afternoon. The victims were: George E. McCorkill, 62, Jan Hillier, 37, married with four children under 12, Robert Henry Johnston, 30, married with three children under 7, and John Francis Wiltshire-Butler, 37, married with eight children under 12. McCorkill was unmarried. They were members of a gang of workmen stationed at Willow Springs, a tiny Forestry Department settlement in thick scrub 18 miles south-east of Nannup) and about 170 miles from Perth. An overseer and six men went to a wild-front fire in the Nannup area and were assisted by local volunteers. The Willow Springs men were making a break on the edge of the fire when apparently, the wind turned and drove the flames on them.
The Canberra Times, 4th January 1958.

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