waterfront. 1967 proved to be a disastrous year for the city of Hobart. On 7 February 1967, a combination of high winds, a heat wave, ill-conceived back-burning and deliberate arson led to the worst outbreak of urban bushfire in Hobart's recorded history. The fires, which came to be known as 'Black Tuesday', swept down both shores of the Derwent River, driven by high winds, and destroyed countless homes and other property. 52 people were killed in the Hobart area alone, and 10 in other parts of the state. Until the disastrous Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 in Victoria, the 1967 Tasmanian bushfires represented Australia's greatest loss of life on a single day outside of wartime. The tourism boom continued throughout the 1960s, and prompted local hotelier Greg Farrell, head of Federal Hotels group and owner of the Riviera Hotel in Lower Sandy Bay to lobby the State government to allow the construction of Australia's first legal casino. The issue divided locals and politicians alike, and a referendum was called in 1968. With a 58% majority, the referendum was passed, and construction began on what was to become an icon of the Hobart waterfront, the 17 story octagonal tower of the Wrest Point Hotel Casino. It opened in 1973 amid much fanfare and was soon leading another tourism boom with gamblers and celebrities visiting from throughout the world. Despite the double boom in tourism in the 1950s and 1960s, Tasmania's geographic isolation deterred the craved foreign investment in industry that was needed to stimulate the economy, and the government was constantly dealing with economic fluctuations. Hobart went through short periods of building booms, followed by longer stagnations, a cycle that continued into the 1990s. On Sunday 5 January 1975, a disaster occurred in Hobart when the handyweight bulk ore carrier collided with the Tasman Bridge in what would later be referred to as the Tasman Bridge disaster. The ship crashed into pylon 19, and then bounced across to strike pylon 18, knocking both pylons down, and also causing a 127-metre section of steel and concrete roadway to collapse onto the deck of the ship. The Illawarra sank, killing seven crew, and five motorists were killed when they drove off the gap, plunging into the river below. Whilst many ferry services were launched to try and aid commuters stranded by the disaster, others had to endure a 20 km round trip to