THE pastures should have lasted well into the autumn.
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A fortnight ago, it was 1200 hectares of grazing land, enough to feed the hungry mouths of 4000 sheep — Doug James and his son Steve had seen to that, working hard to build up the family farm at Bungeet, near Lake Rowan, west of Wangaratta.
Now the ground is nothing but ash, pulverised by the animals’ hooves.
If that’s not enough of a reminder of the bushfire that ripped through here, the smell of fire lingers.
The James’ farm was one of the hardest hit by the 5742-hectare fire that struck on December 19.
While most attention was on the blaze threatening West Wodonga, strong wind quickly spread a small grassfire at Lake Rowan and drove it through Boweya and Peechelba to the Warby Range.
Mr James and his son stayed to fight it and, while the family home was saved, the land was scorched, fencing and sheds razed and more than 1000 sheep lost.
He’s loathe to put a figure on the damage but, at a guess, he reckons it’s close to $100,000 and it’s going to take years to restore their fortunes.
Still, somehow, they say the glass is half full.
“The positives are no one has died. In the big scheme of things it could have been a lot worse,” Mr James said.
“One way or another, we’ll get back on track.”
To that end, the community wheels are turning — while donations of fencing materials and feed are rolling in for all fire-affected property owners, Wangaratta and Benalla councils have formed a community recovery committee to provide help over the next few months.
The committee is made up of council and state government agencies such as the Human Services Department, such groups as the Red Cross and Landcare, and people representing the affected communities.
Wangaratta Council’s emergency management co-ordinator Jamie McCaffrey said all those involved would work together to ensure farmers had the help they needed, whether it was fodder, fencing and water or longer-term issues such as re-establishing crops and pastures.
“This recovery will take several months, or years for some,” he said.
“There’s a lot of really good assistance coming forward but we need to work together to make sure we have a co-ordinated approach.”
Mr James knows recovery won’t be easy — while most of his neighbours’ big worry is fixing fences, he has to find feed for the 3000-odd sheep that survived.
“There’s still a bit of hay but it’s not now we’re worried about,” he said. It’s three months time come autumn.
“Our issue is further forward. The fact is we lost 3000 acres of pretty good pasture and you don’t get that back until you go through another season.
“The fire just lined us up and took the lot — no one can wave a magic wand and rectify that.”
That’s the empty half of the glass. The rest is full of luck — their stock is spread across the district — and gratitude at the way people have offered to help with fencing and fodder.
“I just think it’s marvellous,” he said. “Some people get frustrated by bureaucracy but I just think we’re so lucky we have people to help and the authorities coming out and hold our hand.
“We’re incredibly lucky to live in a country that has that in place.”
A community meeting for fire-affected farmers will be held at the Thoona Hotel, 6-8.30pm on Tuesday. Those interested can contact Libby Stilbeck on 0439 040 955 for details.