Finally today we begin our BlazeAid journey, not written day to day which would be dreary, but I’ll try to cover the highs and lows, the people, the characters, the community and the organisation. We arrived on Tuesday morning on advice from of our mates who had become integeral to the camp setup a few weeks prior. The closer we came to Cabargo the more in your face was the destruction of forests, property, fences, buildings and homes. We had worked at a BlazeAid camp a year ago in Richmond, North Queensland, however, it was soon obvious that working in a flood ravaged area where very few families lost their homes was going to be completely different to what awaited us at Cabargo.
BlazeAid was started by Kevin Butler, a farmer from Kilmore, Victoria, after a huge bushfire swept through his farm about 10 years ago. He called for volunteers to help him rebuild the fences, and realised that so many other farmers in the district also required help. BlazeAid was born. Through the media and in particular social media the movement gathered pace and today can place camps of volunteers in many different locations
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Today BlazeAid offers frontline assistance to rural communities and in particular the properties in the region. BlazeAids main service is to build fences on farms, particularly boundary fences, and especially those along roadways. This gives property owners a secure area to enclose their sheep, cattle or other stock. Secondary works can include clearing debris, especially fallen and dangerous trees. Ancillary to the physical work is the presence of so many volunteers who patronise the local township businesses, especially the pubs!
Beside all the work is the human and emotional contact where locals begin to realise that people care, that they come to not only help but listen. Sometimes the best outcome is not from the days toil, but from a few beers with an owner, a family or a local we have worked with that day. Sometimes it’s from a few precious minutes as we have afternoon tea and the owner quietly begins to tell their story of fighting not only a monster fire, but the stress, fear, anxiety and depression that follows.
The volunteers get so much out of their endeavours from the obvious welcome we get from communities and individuals. Roscoe was stopped in the street twice to be told how appreciative the locals were. Friendships with both volunteers and locals are made and have a special bond. A local coffee shop had been given donations of money to pay for coffees if any volunteer comes in. Really, the emotional rewards are profound and significant.
Running the camp are two volunteers, Dean, a South African, and Andy. Both these guys are hero status for the effort they put in, the hours and the emotional toll it takes to front those in need and hear the tales. Some had lost loved ones, house, sheds, fences and stock, yet Dean especially took such emotive issues and turned them into projects to be allocated to our small army of volunteers.
Our mates….Peter and Lindy Kinnane and Rod and Janene Goff, had arrived at Cobargo just after it opened at the Showgrounds. Here was shared with up to 20 displaced families living in borrowed tents, caravans and even tarps. Unfortunately it was soon obvious that the two groups were very disparate, the families sombre, the volunteers often let their hair down in the evening with drinks and laughter. The camp was moved to a nearby football field with NO facilities. Enter Peter Kinnane who took the role of Quartermaster and began foraging for supplies…..power, water, toilet and shower blocks, marquees, tables, chairs, refrigerators, washing machines etc. All the trappings required for a functioning fully catered camp of up to 120 volunteers who needed three meals a day and sanitary services.
Peter did an awesome job, especially given that a week later it poured rain and the whole field became a muddy swamp. Soon we had bulldozers, bobcats and many truckloads of gravel to form a circular road that the volunteer caravans, campervans, camper trailers and RV’s could use to park from. And don’t forget Goffy who took on the role of the Toolman, managing the allocation of a wealth of donated fencing tools, barbed wire, generators etc, all donated to BlazeAid (special thanks here to Coates Hire and Bendigo Bank). Goffy ensured that each team had the required tools and supplies to do the job.
Not forgetting the super effort from the girls, Lindy and Janene became fencers and were soon out there with their own team, putting in very long day’s constructing fences over very hilly terrain. Several times it was almost an “all-girl” crew doing a great job.
We were soon nominated as Team Leaders charged with managing a team of 4 to 12 volunteers on specific properties. A job with some challenges to be sure, but hugely thankful to the willingness of the other volunteers, some for a day, others for weeks. Also a big thanks to Goffy who made sure that our Battle Trailer (as they became known) had a full complement of tools etc.
Our first days were spent with a gentleman called Ross, 79 years of age. We were sent to complete a rabbit proof fence across the front of a small property owned by a couple in their late 80’s. Now living beside the remains of their buildings this couple were surviving, just, in an old leaky caravan with an equally leaking annexe, all covered by a large tarp. No power, no water, it was positively Third World and you would not expect to see the like in Australia. This couple tugged at our hearts and those of the entire camp as they occasionally came and had dinner with us. Ross? Well we were hard pressed to keep up with the old bugger, he was amazing.
During that first job we were told that two brand new shipping containers were on their way to this elderly couples farm so that they could store whatever possessions they had saved. We were told that this was to happen one morning before heading out to work. The couple wanted new clean containers as Jim had health problems linked to chemicals and paint fumes from containers where he had worked for many years. A long load with two 20ft containers arrived onsite, both used. Roscoe was not allowing the driver to unload, and the driver, somewhat put out, said he’d return them to Bega if we didn’t want them. Roscoe rang Goffy (Master Sargent of Tools at our camp) and told him we were sending the containers to him for use as storage, something he was most chuffed about, and so was the driver! Good outcome!
As a BlazeAid volunteer you required Name Badges at all times around camp and also onsite when working, these are a blessing for being able to call people by their names (rather than “mate”). Onsite we must wear Hi-Viz shirts and during our morning briefings it was reiterated that we take sunscreen, safety glasses or at least sunglasses, gloves and water, plenty of water as it was hot during the day and the work hard, the terrain hilly. Each morning we were treated to a breakfast buffet, cereals, juice, tea, coffee and hot foods; eggs, bacon, sausages etc. Pretty substantial fare to set us up for the day. At 7am we had “Muster” where Dean welcomed new-comers, bid farewell to some, reiterated safety instructions and allocated teams to the Team Leaders. After that there were tables in the next annex full of bread and ingredients to make sandwiches, muesli bars, snacks and lollies to cater for our own lunch as well as that of any property owner working with us. Pretty well organised and never short of vittles.
Our next job was on a family cattle property about 8klm out of Cobargo and we’d be working with two brothers who ran the place (both in their 60’s), Rex and Greg, who had successfully stayed to fight for their homes against the monster, however, they had lost all their fences. We had ourselves and a couple from Sydney, Phil and Julia, who only came for the day. They were also on their journey to Tasmania and were staying in the nearby beachside town of Bermagui, at the caravan park. The guys had no fencing experience but were totally enthusiastic. We met Reg in the paddock as we drove in and were soon at work pulling an old fence down, at least what was left of it. The wooden posts were burnt out, the steel pickets bent and useless and the wire a mess. Cleaning up seems to take as much time as building the new one most times. This fence was about 700 metres long and after a paddock lunch break our good mates Lindy, Janene and Suellen finished their job nearby and joined us.
We finished that cleanup by about 2pm and moved onto the next fence-line, which really was a mess but fortunately Rex had the tractor on hand to assist with pulling the barbed wire free from the long grass and undergrowth. During the day we were joined for a few hours by the boys next door neighbour to help with his boundary fence. Reg had warned us that the neighbour was doing it pretty tough after a traumatic effort to save his house from the fire. Correct, he said little and smiled less, but we respected that he had faced a life or death event and left him to his own thoughts.
By days end Phil and Julia declared that early next week they would move to our campsite and do a weeks work with BlazeAid which was just great. We have become good friends and camped with them for many days in Tasmania. Thanks guys.
The weekend has arrived, Phil and Julia have left, but Suellen has joined our crew and on the Friday night Dean asked if we could use eight (8) young tradies from Canberra who were arriving for the weekend… blood oath we can as we have several kilometres of fencing to do on the boys place. After Saturday morning muster we meet the boys, Suellen and Evi take charge of ensuring they have the gear and food they need, and several slabs of water while Roscoe hooks up a Battle Trailer fully equipped with fencing tools and supplies as today is a “put up the fence” day.
Arriving at the property we find Reg and Greg ready to start with their gear set to go, as well as Gregs wife, Karen. There’s now both the brothers plus us 11 volunteers and for a few moments it looks like chaos until Roscoe is told that Reg and Greg will split up to do two different fence-lines, and the neighbour will begin another. We split the boys into groups and send them off equipped to do their assignments. Evi goes with Reg and three lads, Suellen with Greg and another team. For the next hour Roscoe is kept busy driving from one group to the next dropping off tools and water, then returns to camp to pick up some extra supplies.
At lunchtime we all meet on a hilltop, the girls hand out sandwiches and water, and Karen goes up to their house and returns with homemade cakes, biscuits, tea and coffee. Karens cakes become a staple for us for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. They are also the envy of the other work crews who hear stories of these yummy treats. At lunch we are joined by the neighbour, and cannot believe the change in him. The tireless energy of the tradies (running over 500 metres pulling a fencing wire behind them) has shown him that perhaps all is not lost. This guy has opened up chatting and joking with the boys, and has a long chat to Roscoe to pass on thanks to all the BlazeAid volunteers who have given their time to help rebuild local farms. By days end we have completed these paddocks, and probably against rules Karen arrives with a carton of delicious ice-cold beer!.
Another Queensland mate, Pete Byrne, has taken the task of assessing properties that require our work and rank it in priority. Pete rings Roscoe near the end of the day asking him to assess another boundary fence the brothers asked to be fixed. With Greg they go to have a look at a fence which is only about 600 metres long but through a steep gully and across the front of a dam. Our recommendation is that we hit this on Sunday, and we get the OK to do so with our team. It becomes a funny day as by 11am the Canberra boys are losing some of their energy of the day before. Evi and Karen are busy kicking them along so we can finish today. We pull down the old fence within a few hours and start straight on the new, of course we break when Karen brings morning tea and cakes along. Due to the hillsides we need to put extra supports in the bottom posts which hold us up for a while, but by 3pm we finish as promised to the boys by Roscoe so they can do the 2 hour drive home..
Sunday is soon upon us and we decided to have the next day off to re-visit some local towns nearby, so more on Cobargo in Act II.
Australia. Dust, Fire, Flood & Pandemic 