RCH supports the bushfire reconstruction effort...

17th February, 2009

The terrible bushfires which have affected so many parts of Victoria after the hottest day on record in Melbourne on Saturday February 7, 2009 have been the reason for a widespread community effort to raise money, provide goods of all sorts and provide accommodation for the survivors left with nothing.

The Rotary clubs in the City of Boroondara and RC of Hawthorn in particular have been very busy rehabilitating Hamer Court, a former council nursing home which had fallen into disuse, after it ceased to be used for its former function.

On the weekend of February 7/8 teams of Rotarians cleared rubbish from the exterior, installed bedding and other furniture, provided toiletries and generally made the premises habitable for about 20 affected family groups so that they could move in starting on Thursday, February 19.

Here is a report from the project co-ordinator, Neil Hookey.

What a transformation in 5 days ! Last Wednesday Hamer Court was a dilapidated, smelly, dusty block of empty rooms and an overgrown garden which was a serious fire hazard as well as a threat to personal safety to anyone walking in it.

Today 15 of the 30 rooms are ready for occupation, complete with tea-making facilities, toiletries and linen - repainted , cleaned and fresh. The garden areas & courtyard are tidy and safe to walk through, although naturally parched.

Council staff and Rotary volunteers are to be congratulated on a job pushed along at breathtaking speed. Vast quantities of furnishings have been donated, many purchased, and many more promised , and Boroondara Council has mobilised many aid agencies including Rotary to get the job done.

Six family units are being created by linking separate rooms. Common areas such as lounges , dining areas and a kitchen are not yet completed, but will be soon. Council staff are in the firezone of Murrindindi liaising with aid agencies to smooth the path of the homeless who may find a comfortable respite in Kew preferable to Tent City.

Rotary was asked to help with the Hamer Court project by Boroondara Council and has done everything asked of it. Because of the energetic approach by Council there has not been as much for our volunteers to do as some of us imagined [or feared]. The ongoing situation may change, but at the moment there is no need to mobilise further rosters. Camcare volunteers will man the front desk when residents move in. I have asked Council Coordinator Aileen Carter to ask for any specific help she thinks Rotary may give, either through me or Anne Scott..I have also asked for a list of goods still required.

Thank you all who helped, and all who offered. We will await the call.

Hawthorn De-Fencing Kinglake

17th June, 2009

Six RC of Hawthorn stalwarts spent Saturday June 13, a very cold day, at Kinglake dismantling fire-damaged wire fences. Having assembled in Kew as dawn was becoming a reality, we returned home as darkness descended: tired, yes very tired, but satisfied that we had done well. Jane & Henry Drury, Bill & Prue Troedel, and I, all followed our leader Gerald Swinnerton as we worked solidly through the day on a succession of 3 properties.

In the absence of instruction or advice, we groped towards reasonable methods of work to deal with the major challenges of what was basically unskilled work: How best to tame the springy wire to our will. How to evade the ensnarings of the barbed wire. How to roll up lengths of fence to make them relatively easily removable by some future cleanup team.

We were unable to avoid seeing the devastation wrought by the Black Saturday fires. Of course, we knew what we would see. But it was, nonetheless,shocking to see the serried ranks and battalions of blackened silhouetted trees; to see a pile of rubble where a house had evidently stood; to realise that bare patch over there was where a pile of rubble and a house - had been; to find that Kinglake is dominated by temporary buildings.

Even more stark was seeing a glimpse of the ongoing human aftermath: to see a farmer sitting beside an open fire outside his caravan; to hear first hand tales of fire, death and survival; to see a family of mum, dad and two youngsters living in a shed, because mum and dad who had built their now-uninhabitable house nearby could not bring themselves to agree that it was sufficiently damaged that it should be demolished.

We were part of a larger volunteer effort, represented by an impressive fleet of some 8-10 4WDs. Despite all of our work, we hardly scratched the surface of the work waiting to be done. Here was Rotary, I felt, doing that Rotary 'service thing' and it felt good to be able to help our fellow men and women who have suffered such a great loss.