Afternoon temperatures at Bourke, NSW averaged 110F during January 1896, but were thirteen degrees cooler this year.
The New York Times described the 1896 heatwave as the “hottest of hot waves on record”
ABC News and the Bureau of Meteorology say 435 people died in the 1896 heatwave, but this was caused by bad thermometers.
“The temperature recording methods used in 1896 were flawed”
