Extreme January heat across South Australia reaches 110°F in Adelaide and exceptional temperatures in Port Augusta

Port Augusta Dispatch and Flinders’ Advertiser (SA) Fri 11 Jan 1884: ‘The weather for the past two or three days has been almost melting hot. Yesterday [10 Jan] the thermometer registered over 100 degrees in the shade, and today [11 Jan] it went up to 108 degrees in the shade’.

Adelaide Observer (SA) Sat 12 Jan 1884: ‘The cricket match between the Exiles Club of Gympie and the Union Club of Maryborough was proceeding under the usual conditions of an intensely hot summer day. At about 1 o’clock, the two teams lunched together, and an hour later resumed the game, the Unions completing their innings. It soon became apparent that some epidemic had seized the players. Wright, of Maryborough, lost his wicket, and left the field complaining of dizziness and impending unconsciousness. Maitland also became ill, and then followed a series of disasters, one man after another quickly leaving the field and vomiting violently. Fully one half of the players from both sides were speedily hors de combat and additions to the number were quickly coming in… sunstroke is argued on one side, and on the other something in the food is held to be accountable’.

The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) Sat 12 Jan 1884: ‘Laura January 12 – The weather is intensely hot, and ophthalmia is prevalent especially amongst children…Hamley Bridge, January 12 – The weather is intensely hot, and not much wheat is coming in, the price being too low for those that can afford to hold’.
Evening Journal (Adelaide) Mon 14 Jan 1884: ‘On Sunday [13 Jan] the temperature, which has been steadily rising during the last two or three days, reached 110° in the shade and 162 3° in the sun at the Observatory. At half-past 6 in the evening the thermometer at this office chronicled 98° inside the building and 104° in the shade outside. A scorching hot wind added to the unpleasantness caused by such a high temperature. During the daytime the streets of the city and suburbs were almost entirely deserted, no one who could possibly avoid it caring to be out in such weather. The sufferings of the children were most distressing, and with such weather as yesterday’s a ready answer is at hand to the question, ” Why do babies die?” In addition to the enervating effects of the weather upon people generally it was painful to observe the condition of the brute creation. Horses in their stables were in a profuse bath of perspiration, their listless eyes and quivering frames showing the extent of their sufferings; poultry, with gaping beaks and pendent wings; and dogs with protruding tongues and gasping breath—all testified to the abnormal condition of the atmosphere. In some houses glassware and crockery were shattered by the heat empty lemonade bottles breaking with a loud report. One peculiar result of the heat was witnessed at Fullarton. The candles in a pair of carnage lamps were partially melted…In North Adelaide bunches of young grapes were burnt-up on the vines, even the green leaves being scorched and falling off. In the evening gardens and thoroughfares were crowded by those eager to secure a breath of fresh air, while sun-baked houses were left to cool, if possible, with doors and windows wide open.’

Port Augusta Dispatch and Flinders’ Advertiser (SA) Mon 14 Jan 1884: ‘Yesterday was the hottest day that has been experienced at Port Augusts this summer. From early morning the sun shone with considerable warmth, and at ten a.m. the readings of the thermometer were 108 degrees in the shade…but by the time old Sol reached his meridian height, the heat became intense, and almost unbearable. The information supplied us shows that the thermometer ranged from 108 degrees to 128 degrees in the shade. When evening approached there appeared to be but little perceptible difference in the temperature, and this unpleasantness was added to owing to there not being a breath of wind’.