Australia-More aid for stricken farmers in middle of bush fires.

AUSTRALIA-FARMERS UNITE IN THEIR HOUR OF NEED.

Hundred of semi-trailer loads of hay are being trucked into the fire devastated Whittlesea, Redesdale, Beechworth and Gippsland areas of Victoria as the rural communities of south-eastern Australia pull together to begin the enormous task of recovery from the weekend’s catastrophic bushfires.

Donations of hay, agistment and assistance have been pouring into the Victorian Farmers Federation fodder and agistment line since Saturday when bushfires razed more than 350,000 hectares of land.

The Bendigo Showgrounds has also been thrown open to house horses affected by the fire.

Fanned by gale force winds and 40-degree plus temperatures on Saturday, fires flared across the state, razing the townships of Kinglake and Strathewen on the outskirts of Melbourne and the picturesque tourist town of Marysville north east of the city, as well as parts of Gippsland, destroying at least 900 homes and leaving more than 5000 people homeless.

The fires tragically bore out forecasts from authorities on Friday that conditions would be worse than those preceding the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983.

The official death toll stood at 181 on Wednesday morning, rendering it already the country’s deadliest bushfire, ahead of the Ash Wednesday fires which killed 47 Victorians and 28 in South Australia and the Black Friday fires of 1939 in which 71 died.

But the toll was expected to rise well over 200 as emergency crews begin the grim task of searching the wreckage.

The VFF said it was too early to put a figure on livestock losses, but it was expected to run into the hundreds of thousands, including 10,000 sheep lost at Redesdale.

Another 300 boat wethers waiting to be loaded reportedly perished at Kilmore East.