Craftsman survives high-speed crash during desperate journey through smoke
As flames lapped at the bonnet of Jonny Gloyne’s old Holden during the KI bushfire, the last thing he needed was a collision. Read his incredible story here.
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When the burning embers starting raining down around Jonny Gloyne at his Newland property on Kangaroo Island, he knew it was time to go.
“I was planning to stay and defend,” Mr Gloyne says. “But I had to run like hell.
“There was a big mushroom cloud and then embers started to land on me. I could see the fire running across the paddock and I thought, ‘I’ve got to get out of here’.”
Jumping into his Holden Premier, he made for Western Districts Football and Netball Club on Friday, driving through a “wall of flame” for about 6km.
“There was stock everywhere and the winds were doing about 120km/h,” Mr Gloyne says.
“Sheep, cows, kangaroos – everything was moving.”
He is lucky to be alive after hitting an animal while travelling at high speed, eventually making it to the sports club, which he watched burn from the oval.
Hours later, the craftsman returned home to find his Roo Lagoon Homestead and Australian Red Gum Gallery had burned to the ground.
The road leading up to his property tells a horrifying story of the suffering caused the island’s fires, with cows’ carcasses, seemingly frozen in one hellish moment in time, lining the sides of the thoroughfare – the putrid smell of death lingering.
Mr Gloyne believes if he was driving another car, he would not be around to share his story. His prized car, while damaged, coped with the impact of hitting an animal and carried him to safety.
Five years ago, his gallery, 20km west of Parndana, was destroyed in another fire, caused by an electrical fault.
Now, he is being forced to start from scratch again. This time, he also faces the task of rebuilding his tourist accommodation, previously the property’s homestead, built in 1936. “I’ve seen it before so I knew what to expect,” he says. “Just iron, and it was just flattened.
“People loved it here and were coming from all over the world – it was so central and so green. It was pretty damn good and now it’s just gone black. I’ll have to start again.”
But he is resolute in his desire to rebuild as soon as possible, planning to speak to his architect this week and have plans drawn up. His sons were due to arrive home this week to help begin the clean up effort.
Having moved to the island 35 years ago to manage a farming property, Mr Gloyne later worked in a number of roles, including as a shearer, and in the hospitality industry.
“It took me 30 years to find out what I loved doing and I’m not throwing this away,” he says. “We’ve just got to get farms and industry going and get back on the horse.”
