Leonard Edward Bishop Stretton

Judge Leonard Edward Bishop (Len) Stretton - circa 1944.

Leonard Edward Bishop (Len) Stretton was a notable Judge and Royal Commissioner in the State of Victoria, Australia.

Stretton was born on 10 October 1893 in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick as one of five children to William John Stretton, and his wife Emma Lydia, née Pye. From an early age Leonard was brought up at rural Campbellfield north of the city, but the family moved back to the urban area in 1902.

Leonard attended Moreland State School and University High School at Parkville, and later studied law at the University of Melbourne.

He attempted several times to volunteer for military service during World War One but was prevented for medical reasons.

After graduating from University, Stretton practiced for ten years as a solicitor and in 1929 signed the roll as a member of the Victorian Bar. In 1938 he was sworn in as County Court Judge.

1939 Royal Commission - Black Friday Bushfires

The Black Friday bushfires on 13 January 1939 where nearly 2 million hectares burnt, 69 sawmills were destroyed, 71 people died and several towns were entirely obliterated became a landmark in the history of the State of Victoria.

And afterward, before the smoke had even cleared, the blame game began. Then, as now, the row was about burning to keep the bush safe.

Stretton held hearings as part of a Royal Commission into the relationship of people to the forest. Farmers, graziers and bush workers blamed the Forests Commission Victoria as well as the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) for an overly zealous fire-suppression policy. The Commission, in turn, blamed landholders for recklessly setting fires at dangerous times.

After hearing all the evidence at the 1939 Royal Commission, Judge Stretton concluded that, in a sense, everyone and no one was to blame. As one witness put it: "The whole Australian race has a weakness for burning." Judge Stretton highlighted a popular culture of indifference, often carelessness.

He reported that hundreds of small fires smouldered unattended in the week leading up to Black Friday, when, fanned by the gale-force winds, they joined to create the inferno. Most of the fires Stretton declared, with almost biblical gravity, were "lit by the hand of man."

Nearly two million hectares of the State burned on Black Friday 1939. Source: State Library of Victoria.

The Royal Commission conducted by Judge Stretton has been described as one of the most significant inquiries in the history of Victorian public administration.

His scathing report was presented to the Victorian Parliament on the 16 May 1939 which led to sweeping changes including stringent regulation of burning and fire safety measures for sawmills, grazing licensees and the general public, the compulsory construction of dugouts at forest sawmills, increasing the forest roads network and firebreaks, construction of forest dams, fire towers and RAAF aerial patrols linked by the Forests Commissions radio network VL3AA to ground observers.

The Chairman of the Forests Commission, A.V Galbraith, who Streeton described as “a man of moral integrity” moved quickly and appointed Alf Lawrence as new Fire Protection Officer, who immediately set about the huge task of rebuilding a highly organised and motivated fire fighting force and implementing many of Strettons recommendations.

The first major initiative from Judge Stretton's recommendations was changes to the Forests Act where the Forests Commission took complete responsibility of fire suppression and prevention on all public land including State forests, unoccupied Crown Lands, MMBW catchments and National Parks plus a buffer extending one mile beyond their boundaries onto private land. The change was huge and the Forests Commissions responsibilities grew from 2.4 million to 6.5 million hectares.

Judge Stretton also recommended sanctioning controlled burns.

Stretton’s work has stood the test of time and has been referred to in subsequent bushfire inquiries and Royal Commissions such as Ash Wednesday in 1983 and Black Saturday 2009.

Parts of Stretton’s report are used as a prescribed text for the Victorian VCE.

1944 Royal Commission - Yallourn Fires

Stretton later served as Royal Commissioner examining the deadly Yallourn fires in 1944.

The formation of the Country Fire Authority of Victoria on 2 April 1945 was a direct consequence of this inquiry. The CFA then took responsibility for fire suppression on rural land leaving the Forests Commission to focus on the public land estate. The CFA also took responsibility for supporting existing fire brigades. Prior to the creation of the CFA, the Forests Commission had, to some extent been supporting individual volunteer brigades which had formed across rural Victoria in the preceding decades.

Streeton conducted three more Royal Commissions. The first, in 1946 examining the impacts, fire effectiveness and regulation of forest grazing, the second into electricity supply in 1947 and lastly examining the bread industry 1949.

1951 Supreme Court

Judge Streeton served as an acting justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1951, but declined an offer to hold that post on a permanent basis. He was noted for harsh sentencing for serious crimes but his strong sense of social justice in cases before him.

On 31 May 1956, Stretton was appointed Order of St Michael and St George – Companion (CMG) for his role as Chairman of the Victorian Court of General Sessions.

He retired in August 1964 and died in East Melbourne on 16 May 1967, aged 73.