Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too want to acknowledge the words of the member for Casey. Like many Victorians, he has a story. It's important that we share those stories—it's what makes anniversaries so powerful—so that we never forget and never have another generation that have stories of that.

On 7 February 2009, Victoria experienced an unprecedented and catastrophic event, as firestorms raged across much of the state. There have been a lot of learnings since that day, the day that many remember as Black Saturday, but it's important that we stop and reflect and remember what did occur so that we can learn from this event.

The state was on red alert, and many commented that, when they woke up and felt the heat, they felt that something was going to happen that day—it didn't feel right. I can remember that I worked early that day. I came out of the building where I was working just before nine o'clock and couldn't get over how hot it was. You did have that gut feeling: what is going to happen today? As the day unfolded, alerts popped up, as well as messages and phone calls. It was a dark day. It was a tough day for many.

In Bendigo the initial fire didn't break out until late in the afternoon. It was in Maiden Gully at about four o'clock. The wind gusts were around 80 kilometres, and temperatures soared into the mid-40s. The flames reached 20 metres high, and the inferno travelled towards Bendigo through Maiden Gully, West Bendigo and California Gully. The fire came within two kilometres of the Bendigo CBD. It could have been a lot worse than what it was that day, but the amazing effort of locals, our emergency services and volunteers prevented the catastrophic, which happened to many others, from happening to our town.

In Bendigo we did lose one life. Forty-eight-year-old Mick Kane was tragically killed by the Black Saturday bushfires. Like many on that day, Mick was fighting to save his home and family. In Bendigo the fires devastated an area of about 500 hectares. Sixty-one homes were lost; 115 outbuildings were destroyed; many pets and wildlife were lost; and caravans, boats and much of people's loved possessions were lost. A refuge centre was established in Kangaroo Flat, where about 50 residents without homes sheltered until more appropriate accommodation could be found.

The other area in my electorate to be hit hard was Redesdale, just south-west of Bendigo. About 10,000 hectares were left ravaged. Redesdale was isolated, and the locals there felt very lucky. They believe that, when the fire formed a horseshoe shape around the town and cut the area off, it was only bulldozers and heavy machinery deployed to build a dirt barrier between the fires and people that saved them. Over 300 people fought the fires in Bendigo, and about the same did in Redesdale. Six aircraft flew over. There were 46 trucks, three bulldozers and four graders.

Remember that the fires in Bendigo broke out late in the afternoon, with so many others already deployed to fires around the state. The town was really on its own. But I want to acknowledge that the majority of the people fighting the fires were volunteers. We have roughly 40 volunteer fire brigades across the Bendigo electorate and only one professional brigade from Fire Rescue Victoria. Whilst they were involved on that day, it really was those volunteer firefighters.

It is important to acknowledge the incredible bravery and efforts of all emergency services on that day: firefighters, paramedics, police officers and the locals who banded together to help out. For those CFA volunteers, it was an extraordinary effort, with many of them fighting to save their neighbour's home whilst they may have lost their own home. To this day, when you visit their stations, they always share their reflection and memory of what happened on that day. It is still talked about. It is still that mark in the calendar where people share. Many will never forget and many of the firefighters still live with those experiences.

There was a lot of government assistance that did help both recoveries. There were lots of packages to help rebuild towns and lots of work that was done to support the mental health and the scarring. But many will not forget the images of the smoke blooms, the orange skies, the horizon over One Tree Hill. They will never be forgotten, and may they never be forgotten, because it is only then that we learn to do better next time.

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