sustained burns from the fire. Sydney Gazette, Wednesday 29 November 1826 During the extensive and frightful conflagration that occurred in the woods on Saturday last, the house occupied by Mr. Milsom, an industrious settler, in Neutral Bay, at the North Shore, was consumed. Mr. M. was from home at the time, and his wife and five children were on the spot, destitute of the assistance of a man servant. The whole of the property was destroyed, and the inmates, especially Mrs. Milsom, with difficulty escaped with their lives, though Mrs. M. was much burnt. Never before was any thing equal to the devastation which the fire has effected; the grass, is destroyed for miles upon miles, and the trees are continually falling, to the danger of the traveller beneath, from the effects of being burnt at the roots. A third newspaper report gives even more information about the events of the bushfire of 25 November 1826 that destroyed Milson's buildings and livelihood. This was coincidentally the 12th birthday of Milson's son James Milson Jnr. The report ends with the chilling words "chilling Poverty appears to be their only prospect." Fortunately that was not to be the case. The Monitor 8 December 1826 DOMESTIC INTELLENCE It is our painful task to record melancholy instance of the mutability of human affairs. There dwelt upon the North Shore a reputable family named Melsham (sic), the heads of whom had long held confidential posts in the households of Governors Macquarie and Brisbane; having acquired an easy competency, they had retired to this sequestered spot to enjoy the fruits of their labour, a comfortable neatly furnished dwelling; a garden, cattle and a well known resort of Sunday-goers, known as "The Milk House," which produced a considerable weekly rental, constituted their possessions. Melsham (sic) was absent, and his wife and daughter saw with fearful solicitude the distant smoke rising o'er the hill; towards the set of sun the blazing heath presented to their view an appalling prospect – two male domestics then on the premises made active endeavours to cut off the communication of the flames, by clearing a space as ample as time would admit of, to check its destructive progress; but the attempt was vainly made. The impelling breeze wafted ignited masses through the air, and the only resource now left, was to remove the most valuable and necessary portables the house contained. Apparel,