Resilience

By Kath Gannaway
“WE are the second chimney on the left up Old Kinglake Road.” Rob Fallon had just come off the tennis court at Steels Creek on Saturday and he looked resplendent.
New shoes, new racquet … new everything. He, like so many others in the close-knit communities devastated by the Black Saturday fires, lost his home and possessions.
That black humour that typifies the Australian spirit is the first sign of regeneration to emerge from the ashes.
It doesn’t diminish the loss, the tragedy and the heartbreak.
It’s 70 years since Beryl Fraser lost her darling dad and brother in the 1939 bushfires, but when she spoke of that ordeal at Warburton just over a month ago, her grief was felt by everyone.
She recalled the last time she saw her dad. “He opened the sleep-out window and kissed me goodbye before he went off to work in the bush,” she said with tears in her eyes.
Fred Sadlier from Yarra Glen has lived through two holocausts. He recalled losing his family’s farm in 1939 and told the Mail last week he could not believe it was happening again as his son Stephen joined others fighting the blaze which swept through on the edge of Yarra Glen to the Yarra River. The scars are deep and for hundreds of people that is, in part, the future.
They survived and there was a spirit emerging towards the end of last week which said we would too.
Seven-year-old Lachlan Scott of Marysville spotted a bike at the relief centre set up at Healesville High School and his eyes lit up.
His mum Louise said they lost everything.
His twin brothers Coby and Beau, four, were next in line and they looked as pleased as punch when volunteer Rae Purvis looked their way. “Now how about you boys. Do you want bikes as well”.
Ms Scott is keen to get back – and dreading it – but the help she and her family have received from all the agencies which have sprung into action is making life bearable.
“This is unbelievable, fantastic. These people are doing an amazing job,” she said.
Elaine Postlethwaite from Marysville is still reeling from the loss of her husband, and the Marysville she loved so much. But she finds voice from her sister’s Boronia home where she is staying to sing the praises of RACV Insurance. “Thank God we were insured with them. They have been wonderful,” she told the Mail.
Four blackened firefighters emerge from the Yarra Glen Florist looking very pleased with themselves. They’ve taken time to smell the roses, and time to thank their sweethearts on Valentine’s Day.
All levels of government are pitching in and for the local representatives this disaster is a very personal ordeal.
For Member for McEwen Fran Bailey, and Seymour’s Ben Hardman, the devastated area encompasses much of their electorates. For Yarra Ranges Shire councillors, and shire staff, many of the people affected are people they deal with year in year out. They are their communities.
“The devastation is still being realised yet people have strengthened their resolve to recover,” Ms Bailey said after visiting many of the devastated communities.
Buxton and Narbethong are two isolated areas combining resourcefulness with nationwide assistance to begin their recovery.
“Residents and emergency service volunteers I have met at relief and recovery centres over the weekend have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. School and community halls and hotels have become the centre of these communities as residents take stock of the cruel hand of nature across our region.”
She said for many it was too early to even contemplate the rebuilding process.
“But it is very clear from talking to the people of these towns that our communities must have a very real say in the recovery process,” Fran said.
“These people who have experienced so much best know their local communities.
Ben Hardman urged people to support the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund which he said would help communities rebuild after the devastation.
Healesville businesses are looking ahead after a meeting on Friday revealed that many were struggling with losses of up to $10,000, and the main streets on the weekend deserted after calls for people to “stay away”.
Healesville retailer and community leader Sally Brown said people were hurting but were determined to battle through the hard times.
A meeting on Monday night with the shire would set up a steering committee to look at strategies which would not only help Healesville, but which could be ready and waiting when townships such as Kinglake and Marysville were ready to get back to business again.
No-one is pretending it will be an easy road – rebuilding lives and whole communities. But there is no shortage of helping hands to call on, and there is always a little black humour to put things into perspective.