In the Upper Murray, the north-east and across into Gippsland, bushfires are a fact of life and it's the resilience of those that live there that never ceases to amaze. They re-fence properties, rebuild houses, build sheds and, after rain, they restock.

After fires, governments have a history of being supportive of community infrastructure projects. In some cases this has been over the top, imposing a range of assets that have proved expensive to maintain with the financial burden falling on ratepayers.

This is where the push by a few in the Upper Murray to roof the Corryong saleyards has to be applauded. This saleyard generates its own income, as well as having a spin-off for the town and region.

Saleyards across Australia are being roofed, and apart from protection from the weather this enables the installation of soft flooring to benefit the welfare of livestock.

In time, no doubt it will become mandatory for all saleyards to be covered.

Local stock agent Graham Costello said soft flooring under roof had become an absolute necessity, especially where cattle were bought at a sale for delivery interstate and could not be trucked for several days.

A roofed saleyards becomes a multipurpose-use facility where, for instance, horses involved in the wonderful Man From Snowy River celebrations could be unloaded and stabled. Local cattle breeders might hold sales and cattle could be held for ongoing transport in larger trucks.

Corryong is ideally placed to tap into the funds that will be freely available for fire recovery.

Bushfires bring out the very best in people, and we should not dwell on any negatives.

Of course, on the frontline are volunteer firefighters and their supporting organisations. There are volunteer groups such as the CWA and Red Cross, plus countless more. And there are individuals who lend a helping hand to those who need clothing, water and even generators.

There are those who provide fodder for livestock, emergency agistment, stabling for horses and rescuing livestock.

However, there was a group of predominantly Dad's army vets that answered the call to be on the fire ground to help assess burnt livestock. Over two weeks, about 11 vets worked tirelessly alongside departmental staff to alleviate suffering and to demonstrate professionalism to traumatised livestock owners.

The red tape was at times baffling, however reports are they came away with a high regard for the departmental staff they worked with.

Comment was made of the difficulty in dealing with cattle ownership across a border. When the army set about digging a livestock disposal pit, it had to be approved by local council and then the EPA.