STEVE Francis staggered from the burning building, choking and coughing.

The 48-year-old shearers’ cook saw dozens of people milling around, watching helplessly as the Rowena Hotel burned to the ground.

There was nothing the onlookers could do to save the wooden building.

Rowena, a small farming village about 25 miles south-east of Collarenebri in north-western New South Wales, relied solely on tank water.

It was almost midnight on Sunday, September 11, 1927 and the blaze lit up the night sky.

Townsfolk were powerless to do anything, but watch the pub burn and pray everyone got out in time.

About a dozen people were staying at the hotel, including licensee Gil Williams and his family. Everyone seemed accounted for as they watched the hotel succumb to the flames.

Francis, exhausted, choking and blackened by smoke, was comforted by fellow lodgers.

He looked at the many faces staring at the fire and realised his mate, bore-drain caretaker George King, was not with them.

King was 66 years of age and simply not as agile as he once was. Tragically, the fire mercilessly swallowed him up in a matter of minutes.

“Jesus, George, where are you? My God, he’s still inside,” Francis yelled above the roar of the blaze.

Onlookers begged Francis to stay put. They tried to hold him back, but he broke free and charged into the raging fireball to look for his elderly mate.

Francis shielded his face from the flames and attempted vainly to reach King’s quarters. They were lodging in adjoining rooms at the back of the pub.

He found King’s body, a crumpled, charred heap, in the hotel hallway. It appeared King tried desperately to escape the inferno.

The building was well alight and flames crept up walls and across ceilings. Flames licked Francis’s back and his clothes caught fire.

He tried dragging King’s incinerated body from the building but the intense flames and stifling heat were simply too much. Reluctantly, he released his grip and ran for his life.

Francis was well alight as he crawled out to the street, screaming in agony and blinded by smoke.

Panic-stricken onlookers rushed to King’s aid. They wrapped him in old blankets to douse the flames and tried in vain to comfort him with what little medical supplies and water that were on hand.

Sadly, Steve Francis died a hero when being conveyed to Collarenebri Hospital.

All he was trying to do was save his mate.

Newspapers reported: “While the crowd was standing watching the destruction of the hotel, Francis realised George King, his companion, was missing. Without hesitation, and despite warnings it would be certain death to enter the building, Francis dashed inside to search for King. The walls by that time were almost falling. After an absence that seemed hours, Francis staggered out alone, his clothes aflame and blinded by smoke.”

When the flames subsided, King’s body was found in the charred remains of the hotel hallway.

The hard-working mates had booked into the hotel just a couple of weeks earlier. It was the shearing off-season and they were working nearby as a two-man team, digging drains for artesian bores.

An investigation into the blaze was headed up by Police Inspector Albert Brissenden and an inquest was held at Collarenebri on September 14 before Coroner Alfred Chapman.

The coroner found both men died “through injuries received in a fire at Rowena Hotel, Rowena, with no evidence to show how the fire originated”.

The Rowena Hall was officially opened the same day as the inquest.

More than 300 people attended the gala event, including locals and visitors from surrounding districts and villages.

Prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony, local land-holder Les Seccombe, of the property Evesham, requested the observation of three minutes’ silence as a mark of respect for the fire victims.

Seccombe addressed the gathering.

“These past few days have been very sad for the district. Please bow your heads and observe three minutes silence for George King and Steve Francis, who perished in the tragic fire at our hotel on Sunday night. Steve tried bravely to save his friend. It was indeed a noble sacrifice.”

A volunteer bush fire brigade was established in Rowena five years later, with more than 80 townsfolk attending a meeting at the local hall.

Les Seccombe chaired the meeting.

“Given the current drought conditions and slump in primary production, the district will be in great peril if a bushfire was to sweep through the area. A great tragedy could happen,” he said.

“We will also request railway authorities to establish graded fire-breaks along all railway lines through the area and to ensure all engines were adequately protected from falling sparks.”

Shortly after the 1927 fire that killed King and Francis, a new hotel was constructed and leased to Alex Brown.

However, the weatherboard structure suffered the same fate as its predecessor – fire wiped it out during the early hours of Tuesday morning, November 19, 1935.

Miraculously, no-one was injured during the blaze.

The North West Champion reported in early 1937 the Rowena Hotel’s license came under review at Wee Waa Court House.

“It was admitted by the licensee that the hotel had not been rebuilt, nor had any plans been lodged for a new hotel. An application from the licensee that his license be surrendered was refused, and his solicitor, Mr Bruce, having no alternative suggestions to make, the license was thereupon cancelled.

“A suggestion was made at one time that the license might be transferred to Wee Waa, but the obstacles in the way of this move were too great for the arguments in its favour. This decision now means that the license is cancelled permanently, and will not be made available for any centre.”

Later that year, farmer Colin Doohan sold up the family farm, Yarral Yarral, and purchased the site of the burnt-out hotel.

He planned to build a brand-new hostelry. However, with the site delicensed for not meeting minimum standards, Doohan and his brother, Wilbur, instead opened a milk bar in Peel Street, Tamworth.

Fire and hotels were not a good mix across the north and north-west of New South Wales in the early years of the 20th century.

Within a couple of decades, fires wiped out hotels at Boomi (1915), Tuncooey, east of Croppa Creek (1917), Moree (1929), Pallamallawa (1932), Mungindi (1929 and 1931), Boggabilla (1934) and Barraba (1935).

The Pokataroo Hotel, just 12 miles north-west of Rowena, was razed mid-afternoon on Saturday, October 3, 1925.

The blaze was strengthened by a strong westerly wind. A lack of water meant £6000 worth of stock and property went up in flames.

On Saturday, November 14, 1936, Tattersall’s Hotel and neighbouring buildings went up in smoke at Collarenebri, about 50 miles north-west of Rowena.

The fire started at George Hatfield’s Store and quickly spread to Arthur Carroll’s chemist shop.

The weatherboard hotel, store, chemist and two cottages were utterly destroyed within a couple of hours.

Residents, Wally and Mary Cousins, were lucky to escape the burning wreck.

There was no loss of life or serious injuries. However, a crippled man was rescued from a room adjoining the store.

Dozens of townsfolk gathered in Wilson Street – at a safe distance – and watched as flames leapt from building to building.

When the smoke cleared, more than 30 lodgers were homeless. Most were taken in by kindly residents with spare rooms and empty beds.

Newspapers reported: “Lodgers made frantic efforts to save their belongings, but many were unable to remove more than a few effects, so great was the danger of the roof and top floor collapsing.”

Volunteers worked frantically to salvage furniture and liquor from the burning pub.

Liquor bottles burst and gas cylinders exploded as they precariously saved what stock they could.

So intense was the heat, residents armed with garden hoses continually sprayed buildings across the street to prevent them catching fire.

Licensee Roy Winter owned the building complex. He bought out partner, store-owner George Hatfield, in November, 1935 and during the next few months spent £3000 completely refurbishing the pub.

Winter was undeterred. He built a new, solid-brick watering hole across the street from the burnt-out wreck.

At Walgett Licensing Court in 1937, he was granted permission to transfer the license to the new premises.

Winter was given 12 months’ grace from the date of application to have the new hotel completed.

He barely had the doors open and the beer flowing when another fire wiped out a row of buildings on that side of the street on Thursday, November 10, 1938.

The blaze started at about 6.30pm and burned for more than six hours. Smoke and flames were seen at Walgett, nearly 60 miles away.

A bucket brigade worked feverishly to push back the flames. The newly-built pub, the pride of Wilson Street, was saved but 10 businesses and two homes were levelled.

Loong Merchants and Grocery Store, Cousins’ Music Shop, the offices of the Collarenebri Gazette and Printing Works, Kerr’s Drapery, Quartley’s Store, the Collarenebri Pharmacy and Petro Helos’ Café were lost.

Premises belonging to stock agents Crane and Co and James Donnelly O’Brien, as well as Crane and Co’s motor vehicle dealership and showroom were razed.

The Illingsworth and Quartley family homes were also lost. Total damage was estimated at £30,000.

Sydney CIB detective Thomas Wilson was sent to Collarenebri to investigate.

Investigators determined the fire started under the floorboards of Loong Merchants and Grocery Store and quickly spread.

“Collarenebri has a water supply, but the town is not equipped with a fire brigade or fire-fighting appliances of any description, and hundreds of people stood by helplessly as the flames consumed the premises, then spread with alarming rapidity to the adjoining structures,” reported the North West Champion.

“The main street presented a scene of desolation, with only three buildings still standing on one side of the street.”

Words: Bill Poulos

Images: NSW State Archives