I remember this day vividly. I was well and truly safe and far away from the fire areas. The heat outside was unbearable; I closed all the windows, drew the curtains and sat with the fan on, keeping cool.
Throughout the day the local ABC radio station broadcast warnings and updated fire situations. A roll call of Victorian place names, those areas under threat issued from the radio; some names were familiar and others were totally unknown.
This year, on the tenth anniversary, I listened to two people speaking of their experiences on that day. Carol Matthew’s son Sam was at their home in St Andrew’s, speaking to his mother on the phone; telling her the fire which started a short time beforehand in the East Kilmore area, when a power line sparked the fire, was almost on top of their house. As they were speaking the windows in the house exploded and the conversation ended.
The identification of Sam’s body and the retrieval process was a protracted and traumatic process. Their daughter, who was not at the house when the fire front came through, lost all her possessions and as a 19-year-old girl, had to deal not only with losing her brother but having nothing which linked their past.
After the fire, in spite of her personal loss – or maybe because of it – Carol Mathews appeared as witness, along with many other people, at the Bushfire Royal Commission as well as becoming the lead plaintiff in a class action brought against companies seen to be responsible for the Kilmore East fire and the damage sustained. After months of a lengthy and complex negotiation process a settlement was reached in this case. Recently Carol has been involved in sourcing funding for an Immersive Bushfire Trailer, designed to give people an experience of how a severe fire might be experienced.
The other person who spoke about her experience on that day was Ella Holcombe, whose parents died in the fire at Kinglake.
Ella was speaking to her mother on the phone and will always remember her mother’s final terrified words “We’re in really big trouble”. Ella and her twin brothers left Melbourne headed for Kinglake but were stopped at Whittlesea by police roadblocks. Along with a great crowd of people gathered there, they watched the mountains ridges ablaze with fire. Information was hard to come by and they returned to their city home and spent the next two days alternating between hope and despair.
Consequently, when the police came to their city house with the devastating news of the death of their parents, they were not altogether surprised.
In the intervening years the Holcombe children (now young adults) have retained the Kinglake property. Ella has written a children’s book, The House on the Mountain, which drew on her childhood experience and Black Saturday. After obtaining a building permit which has to be renewed on a regular basis, a new home is now being constructed.
Looking forward, the new house will be built and they will spend time up there among the trees still remaining and the memories of their wonderful childhood days.
Aftermath of Kinglake fires 2009
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