A Fijian dancer grimaced in pain as his costume caught alight in an accident during an exhibition of a traditional fire-walking ceremony, The Canberra Times reported on this day 46 years ago.
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The exhibition ceremony took place in an enclosure at Woden Plaza in celebration of its anniversary. Members of the troupe were walking across a bed of red-hot volcanic rocks and squatting down over them when it is believed the grass skirt worn by one of the members caught fire.
Mr Milne, of Rivett, saw the accident and cited the troupe member seemed OK at first and was running around the place not saying a thing. The spectators knew something was wrong when the other dancers stopped him and then had to use a fire extinguisher.
"The poor fellow eventually collapsed moaning but it was too late to do much," Mr Milne said. The injured man was taken to the Woden Valley Hospital and later transferred to Canberra Hospital.
Also making front page news was the critical shortage of accommodation in Canberra.
Thirty of 65 people questioned in a survey conducted on behalf of the ACT Real Estate Institute said they had been looking for rental accommodation in Canberra for more than 12 weeks.
Eleven of them said they had been looking for more than 20 weeks.
