Brace yourselves, Canberra gardeners! You will shudder at the thought, but what if tonight out of the blue there is a withering, garden-ravaging, rosebud-blackening frost, and even some snow? And if it does happen, which politician will you blame? We know we will blame Tony Abbott.
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Canberrans may scoff at the prospect of Siberian weather here in late November, but 100 years ago this week, a horrified Queanbeyan Age and Queanbeyan Observer shuddered "UNSEASONABLE WEATHER. DISASTROUS FROST".
"The weather conditions lately have embodied the four seasons of the year. Following the windy conditions prevailing on Sunday and Monday, the temperature on Tuesday fell rapidly, and a cold biting wind, accompanied by sleet and hail, was experienced; the sudden change being severely felt.
"The vagaries of the weather this year have puzzled even the oldest residents, and as a climax a white frost occurred on Wednesday morning. Grapevines, tomatoes, beans and other tender vegetation were cut down, and local gardens in nearly every instance suffered. Some of our gardeners were extremely downhearted when they discovered that in one night their labours of months had been nipped by a disastrous frost.
"The Chinamen's [market] gardens are blackened and withered, while orchardists in some cases found their trees badly scorched. The damage caused by this late and record frost is considerable. Snow fell in Goulburn and some centres in this district.
"A local wag says King O'Malley [the controversial and widely derided then Minister for Home Affairs] is responsible for the vagaries of the weather."
