Tony Wright wrote a terrific article in The Age on Saturday 7 March, The Sparrows fell, and the town won’t forget. It tells of the big flood of March 1946 when Hamilton, Casterton, Heywood, Portland, Port Fairy and Warrnambool and all the villages in between were engulfed by floods.

On Sunday 15 March at 2pm a ceremony will be held at the entrance to the Old Sparrow farm on Lake Gorrie Road, south of Macarthur, to unveil a bluestone plaque to mark the day when a whole family, the Sparrows, drowned.

Organised by the Macarthur & District Historical Society. (03) 55761221

Tony’s article can be read here