It was a warm spring day in November 1940, when a voice rang out over Bonnie Doon sheep station outside Blackall in western Queensland — "Fire!"
The station owner's wife, Mrs McWilliams, raised the alarm, and raced from her home as smoke billowed out behind her.
At the time, Mr McWilliams, his two children and two farmhands were building a new meat house but downed tools and ran to the front lawn.
It was then they realised the youngest child, four-year-old Aileen, was missing.
Memories of that day
Almost 80 years on, that little girl Aileen Harrison (nee McWilliams) remembers the day well.
"As a little child ... to see burning walls is rather awe-striking, I can tell you," she said.
"I can still see it, the flames going up and the smoke coming out from it.
"I can still see those walls now."
Ms Harrison cannot recall why she went back into the burning home.
"When I was asked afterwards I said, 'I went in to get my toothbrush'," she said.
"I've still got my own teeth, I did look after my teeth."
One of the station hands, Bob Pickersgill, wrapped himself in a towel and went back into the burning house in search of the toddler.
He found her standing in the bathtub, took her in his arms and whisked her to safety.
"I remember him picking me up and taking me out," Ms Harrison said.
"I could never, ever thank him enough for having saved my life.
"Bob saved my life, for which I've always been thankful for.
An act of bravery
The details of the heroic rescue have only just recently come to light.
Mr Pickersgill's son, Doug, uncovered the full story two years ago when he stumbled across a newspaper clipping tucked away in his late mother's belongings.
He said his dad never talked about it much.
"I first came to know about it when I was 16, I'd actually just got my first job as a fire professional.
"When I told him, he mentioned to me what he had done out at Bonnie Doon."
Doug credited his father for his 56-year career in the fire industry.
This month Bob Pickersgill was awarded a Bravery Medal (BM) by the Governor-General for the 1940 rescue.
"I'm extremely proud and I'm extremely honoured to see my father get this award posthumously," Doug said.
'He's been in my mind'
Over the past 80 years, Ms Harrison said she had often thought about the fire and about Bob Pickersgill.
She still has the dolls she was playing with that day.
Her mother saved them from the verandah of the burning home.
When she heard Doug Pickersgill talk about his father on ABC Radio, she knew it was her chance to get in touch with the family.
"I was pretty emotional," she said, pausing to take a steadying breath.
"I can't explain how emotional I felt about it."
She wants to give the Pickersgill family a present Bob gave her mum at the Christmas after the fire.
She preferred to keep the details of the gift private.
"My father thought the world of him, even years after," she said.
"He's been a name in my mind for many, many years."
Two years after the fire, the McWilliams rebuilt Bonnie Doon.
To this day, every time she passes by, Ms Harrison checks to see it is still there.
