ID :
159144
Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:04
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/159144
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Black Saturday anniversary 'still tough'
(AAP) - It's two years to the day that residents in the mountain community of Kinglake faced the worst bushfire conditions on record - but some residents say the second anniversary has proved tougher than the first.
About 200 locals packed into a marquee on Monday to light candles and leave messages on a canvas outside the town's council offices, northeast of Melbourne.
A sombre and reflective mood dominated the memorial service, which included a minute's silence to pay respect to the 159 people who died in the Kinglake/Whittlesea infernos.
Pheasant Creek resident Sarah, who did not want to provide her surname, said the day brought back sad memories, but she was determined to move forward.
She brought her small son to a nearby playground to support friends and neighbours quietly observing the two-year milestone.
"We're just taking today to appreciate each other, we're still here," she said.
Kinglake Ranges Community Recovery Committee chair Bill Gale said the service was tasteful, low-key and something the community had asked for.
But he said the second anniversary was proving harder for many people than the first as a stark reality check.
"I think there's a lot more reflection that goes on, I think people are finding that it's welling up inside them," he told reporters on Monday.
"It hasn't helped at this point in time with the floods, both up in Queensland and then down in Victoria, and then over the weekend, and then of course there's the fires in Western Australia.
"These all serve as reminders of what we went through some time ago."
Kinglake policeman Cameron Caine says progress in the region is "mixed", with a string of commemorative services over the weekend unduly prolonging the anniversary.
"Saturday is the proper day, and then Sunday, especially now the anniversary is during the week, it sort of drags out and makes it hard," he told AAP.
"Unfortunately the people who lost loved ones, it's another day they've got to get through.
"And then there's people who are trying to rebuild at the moment.
"There's people who have rebuilt, moved into houses and nothing's theirs."
Wearing yellow ribbons as a symbol of bushfire recovery, the crowd standing shoulder to shoulder hugged and held each other throughout the 10-minute service.
Civil celebrant Laurine Blejwas said lives were changed forever on February 7, 2009.
"Today is not only for those we lost but for us as survivors.
"Finally after two years this day belongs to us.
"May we leave this place conscious of the things that really matter."
And there are many signs of hope.
The only smell of smoke in town now emanates from a wood-fired pizza oven.
Wildflowers, and not piles of timber and corrugated iron, line the leafy streets.
And a sign hoisted to a half-built house on the road out of Kinglake reads: "We have a roof."
In Marysville, where 34 locals died, residents were holding a community barbecue at Gallipoli Park where many of them sheltered as the fire raged around their town.
They're due to stop for a minute's silence at 7pm, the time when the fire was at its fiercest.
About 200 locals packed into a marquee on Monday to light candles and leave messages on a canvas outside the town's council offices, northeast of Melbourne.
A sombre and reflective mood dominated the memorial service, which included a minute's silence to pay respect to the 159 people who died in the Kinglake/Whittlesea infernos.
Pheasant Creek resident Sarah, who did not want to provide her surname, said the day brought back sad memories, but she was determined to move forward.
She brought her small son to a nearby playground to support friends and neighbours quietly observing the two-year milestone.
"We're just taking today to appreciate each other, we're still here," she said.
Kinglake Ranges Community Recovery Committee chair Bill Gale said the service was tasteful, low-key and something the community had asked for.
But he said the second anniversary was proving harder for many people than the first as a stark reality check.
"I think there's a lot more reflection that goes on, I think people are finding that it's welling up inside them," he told reporters on Monday.
"It hasn't helped at this point in time with the floods, both up in Queensland and then down in Victoria, and then over the weekend, and then of course there's the fires in Western Australia.
"These all serve as reminders of what we went through some time ago."
Kinglake policeman Cameron Caine says progress in the region is "mixed", with a string of commemorative services over the weekend unduly prolonging the anniversary.
"Saturday is the proper day, and then Sunday, especially now the anniversary is during the week, it sort of drags out and makes it hard," he told AAP.
"Unfortunately the people who lost loved ones, it's another day they've got to get through.
"And then there's people who are trying to rebuild at the moment.
"There's people who have rebuilt, moved into houses and nothing's theirs."
Wearing yellow ribbons as a symbol of bushfire recovery, the crowd standing shoulder to shoulder hugged and held each other throughout the 10-minute service.
Civil celebrant Laurine Blejwas said lives were changed forever on February 7, 2009.
"Today is not only for those we lost but for us as survivors.
"Finally after two years this day belongs to us.
"May we leave this place conscious of the things that really matter."
And there are many signs of hope.
The only smell of smoke in town now emanates from a wood-fired pizza oven.
Wildflowers, and not piles of timber and corrugated iron, line the leafy streets.
And a sign hoisted to a half-built house on the road out of Kinglake reads: "We have a roof."
In Marysville, where 34 locals died, residents were holding a community barbecue at Gallipoli Park where many of them sheltered as the fire raged around their town.
They're due to stop for a minute's silence at 7pm, the time when the fire was at its fiercest.
