On a remote Queensland Channel Country sheep and cattle station, four graves sit as a reminder of a terrible night when a fire tore through a timber homestead.
According to a surviving member of the family, more may have died had it not been for the actions of one brave woman.
Ellen Francis Cartwright, 40, was overcome with smoke and died in the fire, along with her two school-aged daughters, Jocelyn and Thora, and her father-in-law, Charles Hartley Cartwright.
She got one of her children out of the burning house on Moothandella Station but went back in for the others.
That heroic decision has now been officially recognised with a Bravery Medal from the Governor-General.
Ms Cartwright's son, George Edward Cartwright, was 12 when his world was torn apart early on December 2, 1960.
He said a huge dust storm fanned the flames of a fire that was started by a faulty refrigerator in the homestead, south-west of Windorah.
"I was woken up at one or two in the morning by a loud explosion, which was a kerosene fridge," he said.
Mr Cartwright said when he finally got out of the house, he went to help his father try and save the others.
"Mum passed Jeanie, my sister, out who was about three at the time to dad, and then told me to take her away to the tennis court," he said.
"She went back inside and never, ever came back out."
It happened so quickly.
"My mother was the only one in my family that had ever given me a flogging but she also gave us tremendous hugs and I cherish her very much," he said.
"She was a backbone of family while she was alive and she's been gone a very long time."
George Cartwright and his father and namesake George Wheatly Cartwright survived the fire, as did his 19-year-old brother Charles Robert Cartwright and younger sister Katrina (Jeanie) Cartwright.
Another sibling Lilian Cartwright was in Brisbane nursing at the Mater Hospital at the time of the accident.
Fatal fire rocked the community
The shocking deaths made the front page of the major newspapers of the day with the Brisbane Telegraph reporting the grim story.
The Courier-Mail also wrote of the family's tragedy and gave details of the funeral which attracted a vast outpouring of community support.
The horrific incident even inspired a poem by Barry Desailly titled We Still Remember Them.
"No fleeting moments granted for one final fond embrace,
Nor time to speak a parting word or glimpse a loved one's face.
And frantic calls for freedom were sadly cast in vain
As the muted voices faded amongst the smoke and raging flame.
And the west winds roared unfettered, as they fuelled the fire from hell
To wreak such devastation that no human force could quell.
And three surviving children, by a frantic father stand
As they yearn to hug a mother, dear, and hold a sibling's hand."
George Cartwright said the poem was part of the reason he decided to seek recognition for his mother's heroism.
'It was a real blow'
Joy D'Hennin, who lived in Quilpie in 1960, says she was probably one of the last people to see the Cartwrights, apart from direct family and station workers before the fire.
She and her husband owned road trains and operated the 1,280-kilometre mail run from Quilpie to Windorah and onto Betoota, which stopped at Moothandella Station every week.
"They had a cup of tea with us that night and then they went onto Moothandella and then my brother and rang next morning to say what had happened," Ms D'Hennin said.
"She was a very nice lady, we all liked Ellen and the kids."
Mrs D'Hennin said the loss rocked the small community, and the award was a fitting tribute.
"Everyone knows everyone and it was a real blow," she said.
"It must have been terribly hard on Ellen to try and get in and get the girls out, so very hard."
Bravery Medal honours memory
The Bravery Medal is the third-highest Australian Bravery Decoration that can be awarded to a civilian, recognising acts of bravery in hazardous circumstances.
Mrs Cartwright's resolve to go back into the house earned her place as one of 26 people recently recognised by Governor-General David Hurley.
"The awards I am announcing today recognise people who, in a moment of peril, were selfless and brave. Confronted with danger, they chose to help others," the Governor-General said.
"Mrs Ellen Cartwright displayed considerable bravery during the attempted rescue of people from a burning house in Windorah, Queensland on 2 December 1960," the citation read.
Mr Cartwright said the nomination was his chance to honour his mother and have one good thing come out of that terrible night.
"I thought she had every attribute to be nominated," he said.
George Cartwright said each of his siblings had their own memories of their mother, but the award ensured her courageous act would be remembered beyond the family.
"Each one of my family has a different recollection of the fire but Mum loved the whole lot of us, not just one or two," he said.
"She was a loving woman, from what I can remember … you can only have one mother and she was a beautiful lady."
And while it's a difficult part of the family history, he said it was part of the legacy he could now give future generations, including Mrs Cartwright's great-grandchildren.
"We will definitely tell them what did happen eventually but it's a hard subject to talk about that's all," he said.
