Planning Minister Justin Madden thanked Yarra Glen residents George Miller and John Gilligan for their initiative on Black Saturday. They are calling for better protection for the historic property.By Kath Gannaway
A FORMER Gulf Station employee and his neighbour were praised by State Planning Minister Justin Madden for their role in protecting the National Trust property from the Black Saturday bushfires.
Mr Madden, who was at Gulf Station earlier this month as part of the Community Cabinet visit, took the opportunity during a funding announcement.
George Miller lost his job at Gulf Station when the Trust laid off all its paid staff on the Yarra Glen property as it embarked on restoration works.
But when the fires came racing across the hills towards the historic Yarra Glen farm property he says he didn’t think twice about what needed to be done.
He and neighbour John Gilligan who live nearby saw the fire approaching.
“There was nobody here, and it was coming towards the buildings,” Mr Miller said.
They found an old piece of carpet, cut it in two with a pocket knife and in a scene reminiscent of how the original settlers may have dealt with the threat of fire coming across their paddocks, belted the fire out with their bare hands.
With two other residents now helping, the men said they were able to keep the farmhouse watered down and guard against embers.
Mr Gilligan told the Mail the portable water tank, which could have been used on the grass, was out of action with no pump.
The men have called for better fire protection of the station and say with the fire warnings in the lead up to Black Saturday the property should have been manned.
National Trust CEO Martin Purslow however dismissed the claims the property is under-protected saying there are large bore fire hoses and mains water at many points around the house.
He said it was unfortunate that the pump had been removed for maintenance at that particular time.
Mr Purslow said he had been checking the CFA’s website throughout the afternoon and there was no mention of fires in Yarra Glen and that he had also been in contact with the property’s Melbourne-based manager.
Mr Purslow and a team of volunteers headed up to Yarra Glen once they were alerted to the fire, but were unable to get through.
“I think this is just a very unusual set of circumstances and what eventually happened was awful for everybody but I don’t think it’s fair to say we should have someone on every site around Victoria.
“We take precautions on the site, we watched the CFA site and we have an action plan. We just couldn’t get up there.”
He said the Trust was very grateful to Mr Miller and Mr Gilligan.
“George and John did a fantastic job, along with a lot of other volunteers. At the end of the day we are extremely grateful for the people who were able to get onto the site.”
