18 October 1971
GULGONG HOUSE BURNS DOWN
A chimney stack was all that remained after fire destroyed a house near Gulgong in the early hours of yesterday.
The house was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Norman Taylor at “Gibbadaire”, about two miles from Gulgong on the Mudgee road.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were not in their home at the time of the fire but were spending the weekend on another property of theirs in Coonabarabran.
The alarm was raised by Paul Weatherley who was driving towards Gulgong at 1.30 a.m. yesterday.
By the time the Gulgong Fire Brigade reached the fire at about 2 p.m. the house was starting to collapse and there was little hope of saving the three bedroom weatherboard fibro house.
All the windows of the surrounding poultry treatment units had been smashed in by large stones which were lying on the concrete floors.
Mr. Taylor told the Guardian he could not understand how the fire had started.
He had removed electric fuses from the meter when he left for his Coonabarabran property some weeks ago.
The house was insured, but for only a fraction of its value, Mr. Taylor said.
He showed the Guardian around a number of the poultry abattoir treatment rooms.
Large stones had been thrown through the louvred windows and there was smashed glass on the concrete floors.
A glass door to another nearby building had a large jagged hole in the glass and there were rocks on the floor.
Sgt. Keith Parker said he and the detectives from Mudgee were making enquiries about the fire1
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22 October 1971
(Photo)
ALL THAT REMAINS
of the homestead on the well known Gulgong poultry farm, “Gibbadaire”, two miles from Gulgong, after a fire in the early hours of Sunday morning. In the picture is the owner of the property, Mr. Norm Taylor with the captain of the Gulgong Fire Brigade, Mr. Harold Adams2
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