Looking back at November 4, 1988
Sitting a HSC maths exam can be stressful at the best of times but doing it when the temperature is pushing 40 degrees makes it even tougher.
That's what happened for Illawarra students, who had to sweat it out while taking the important exam.
It was so hot that 150 students from Wollongong and Keira high schools who sat in a shared hall for the exam had a water fight to cool down afterwards.
The Mercury reported that the temperature was 36 degrees at 10am and spiked at 41.7 degrees at 2pm.
That reading was from Bulli, though there was the suggestion the temperature in the Wollongong CBD may have reached 45 degrees.
More than 40 people were treated for heat exhaustion, 25 of those were firefighters battling a blaze at the Morton National Park.
Ambulance officers also treated 17 heat victims between Bulli and Kiama.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
