A sobering drive

Jan 19

The day was cloudy and cool when John woke up. He dozed while watching me put in a couple of hours uploading new videos from his days in Sydney. Take a look, if you haven't seen the new ones - like Manly Beach, Manly and the pirates, and some nice views in the Powerhouse Museum. These were all possible because the dongle, though expensive, allowed John to have a better Internet connection. He has no idea what his connection will be like from Singapore.

Anyway, after having a cup of tea, he and Janice set out to see the effects of the devastating bush fires that occurred last February, almost 11 months ago. John remembered hearing about them on the news - over 200 people (men, women, and children) had been killed in the fires. Janice had been there 10 months ago but had not seen it since.

They drove towards a town called Marysville, population about 520, about 90 minutes away to the north. As they passed through the Yarra Ranges National Park, they began to see the changes in the landscape. For mile after mile, trees had blackened burnt trunks reaching up to the levels that the flames had leaped. Many of the gum or eucalyptus trees are able to withstand bush fires so they were sprouting greenery all along their trunks from the ground up, giving them a weird looking appearance. John felt that it was good to see this regeneration as it meant that the forest was healing itself. However, he felt sad to think of the countless animals, both wildlife and stock, that had perished in the flames.

Nothing prepared him for the utter destruction of the small town of Marysville. An early description of the town said, "Marysville is well known for its beautiful gardens and scenery, and as a gateway to year-round outdoor activities. Nestled in the foothills of Melbourne's Yarra Range..." it had many attractions for tourists such as fern gullies, views of the mountains, and walking tracks to Steavenson Falls. It was the place to go for Melburnians to escape the summer heat since the 1920s.

"It's primary industry [was] tourism. Prior to the fire, it contained numerous cafes, art galleries, restaurants, and craft shops. It has been used as a base for the Lake Mountain ski resort. During the snow season, the population of the town has been known to double or even triple, due to the influx of other hospitality and tourism caterers, such as ski hire, toboggan hire, chain hire, and many other profitable ventures associated with snowplay and skiing. During summer Marysville is frequented by many bikers, particularly on weekends. Marysville is cradled between two of Victoria's best motorcycling roads, the Black Spur & The Reefton Spur." source: Wikipedia
Now it was just a shell. The fires of 2009 had destroyed 90% of all the buildings including the school, police station, and almost all the residential houses. That day they still call Black Saturday, the fires raced through the town in minutes, killing some 45 people in the little town alone. The fire had been huge, and had started perhaps as far away as 150km.

John was very touched to see the empty spaces where people's lives had been played out. He saw the reconstruction efforts with homes at all stages of construction - and some with nothing happening that he assumed meant the family had been killed. But he was most impressed with one home, nothing more than a concrete pad, with the debris all cleared away, and an Australian flag flying from an old stick.

He was inspired that the trees were regrowing, the animals were having babies to repopulate the forest and the people were rising again from their tragedy.



TRB