Date: 23-Feb-09
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: Mick Tsikas

MELBOURNE - Australians observed a day of mourning on Sunday for the more than 200 people killed in this month's bushfire disaster, with thousands attending solemn ceremonies across the country.

Bells rang to start the main ceremony at an arena in Melbourne, capital of the disaster-hit southern state of Victoria, which was followed by a traditional greeting from Aboriginal elders.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called for the date when the fires were at their height, Feb. 7, to be marked annually with a minute's silence. The day has become known in Australia as 'Black Saturday'.

Rudd paid tribute to the fire fighters who tackled the blazes and victims who rallied around to help one another, recalling how many had flown the Australian flag after the disaster, in some cases using burnt saplings as flagpoles.

Police have said 209 people were killed in the fires that swept across Victoria, Australia's worst natural disaster in more than a century.

More than 1,800 homes were destroyed in the fires.

Australians had shown courage, compassion and resilience, Rudd said at the ceremony in Melbourne. "Courage is a fire fighter standing before the gates of hell unflinching and unyielding and with eyes of steel saying this: 'Here I stand, I can do no other'," he said.

Several fires were still burning in Victoria on Sunday, with forecasts of more hot weather on Monday. Some of the fires have raged for more than two weeks and have only slowly been brought under control.

Victoria's coroner Jennifer Coate halted clear-up operations in several areas this weekend after more human remains were found.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

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