There was nothing left Every fence on the place carry yards tractors implements Silage high and cattle sheds the house a lot of old cars. I've been collecting for a lot of years and old Fords They are gone Australia's black summer bushfires destroyed homes properties and lives across the country We know you're worried about this man Months on some a still without running water or a warm place to sleep a Caravan is a very hard place to be there's not much you can do we go to bed as soon as it's dark We get up as soon as it's light Does it surprise you that all these months on people's basic needs are still not being met. Oh heavens Yes. Yes. It's very very surprising and and dismay Locals are relying on each other for help Bushfire recovery is a deeply complex and grueling Process for many people asking for help has been hard and it hasn't come fast enough tonight on four corners We've come here to southeast New South Wales where one community is pulling together to find a way forward after one of the worst disasters in living memory Early this morning. We had a delivery of 207 1000 liter water tanks which are going to be distributed throughout the Shire people have been coming in all day picking them up on their trailers and Yeah, it's been pretty busy today For months hundreds of people in and around khabar go have been living without access to one of life's most basic necessities water This donation of two hundred and seven tanks is a huge relief People are using bottled water or they're bringing in twenty liter containers in order to fill up here at the show ground and That's all the water They've got because the whole water infrastructure has been burnt Their tanks have melted or their concrete tanks the water in them has been compromised so they have no water Chris Walters who runs the local Relief Center has the hard task of working out who needs one of these tanks the most We need some official documentation I Need a document Did you get an insurance payout? Yes, oh you okay. So if you can send to me mmm your driver's license and that insurance letter. Mmm Overnight no or later today, whatever I'll put you on the list and then if we have a spare, yeah, you're ready to go. Okay This tank will mean everything to Kathie Lee and Rachel Hatton who have been living in a caravan with no running water Since losing their house in the fire on New Year's Eve Tomorrow with this Right. This dress is off to set a little bit more we can have a shout out we can wash up and We don't have to stress It's one little thing It's a big thing in our day a huge big thing really is What have you been doing with the last five months? existing Literally existing because day to day is just so hard if you get up in the morning and it's four degrees Like it's bloody cold So you got to get water you got to feed the animals you try and keep wall And it's just yeah, it's ridiculous. I don't know how I Don't know how we do it. Honestly, I Don't even know what quite decades Catherine rachel is still in need of simple things like blankets and warm clothes. The Relief Center has become a lifeline Oh Oh, yeah, oh, yeah Yeah, yeah, there's a good one Daniel Murphy runs the center alongside Chris Walters. They're both volunteers We provide a bit of a gathering place for people who come in looking for assistance and for material help but also It helps with their mental health. I think that people can still feel part of the community even though Particularly in coronavirus times. They're feeling very isolated Daniel is a punk rocker who made the tree change from inner-city Sydney to cabaco 16 years ago She's now a key part of the bushfire relief effort And Daniel we heard the generators would be coming there for small businesses Just wake up my computer and put you straight on the list We try to a different house Gotta split the projects. Otherwise we both go mad Danielle and I had never met before The first week of January we live in the same town, but we're quite different ages we have different interests and so forth and it just grew it just grew out of necessity out of just sort of We were the last men standing when the other Volunteers all had to go off to their other lives after the first influx of people and volunteers when the bushfires first happened We're like two heads one. Brain. It's a lovely little tag team we've got going And so, you know, we call between ourselves. You know, Chris is the efficiency Department, you know she will be You know, whereas I'm a little bit more chaotic. I Think together we combine, you know become this really successful working team Go for shower Without sounding sorry about it. We want to help people. We do want to help people but we with really feel it's important that we stay the distance to help people because we've developed relationships with people and they can come in and they know that they're talking to a friendly face and someone that they've probably seen before and So we're here for a long haul these are people who've worked for everything that they that they have had and haven't had to ask for for help before they're very independent resilient people and You know hard work in Australian so and their and up until now Have been fine on their own and building what they've built as we all do throughout our life But then to have it all taken from you in the you know, blink of an eye Yeah, it's quite Reducing I guess to to how a person feels about themselves We are heading to cool the lodge to go and see Stefan I will be taking out some a few supplies just a farm and a food hamper back And a few extra little hoodies I like to do Beautiful man That's a big three bills ahead of him. I Come bearing Goods all the time can't you stop? No, because I saw your soul she's mine Your soul I'm a marsupial. Now. You're starting to squirm. I got more I'm gonna go get it Here we go something something easy I bought its food. It's a sensual taco. Yeah, that's what we need Stefan Tom at ski is a homeopath who moved from Germany to Australia 40 years ago The mud brick home. He built by hand was destroyed in the fires It's more like war was here look like Donetsk or Syria or oh The Allied bombings of Germany the pictures I know you know Indescribable actually and said of course that He's been given to weathered caravans in a shipping container to see him through the winter Like many in the area he was uninsured He's been given $50,000 from the Red Cross to rebuild an $8,000 from the state government to replace his appliances Have you found it hard to ask for help That was actually one thing So this I was always really lucky to do this And now I've become a hunter and gatherer. I Grab everything I mean done yet and Kris they helped me yeah, but I've literally asked for some things that was hard but not terribly hard, you know, I Could combine it with a certain Assessor for? Uninsured people. It's You know overwhelming and when they're being given these grants and you know, they're trying to hang on to every last cent You know they try not to spend it because they know that that is the one and only opportunity that they have to rebuild it and a lot of those times they will never ever get it back to a level that it was and Yeah, my heart goes out to them When Ronnie and Trevor Eagles fled their nearby property in Upper bro go they had to leave everything behind And as we were leaving all I could hear was the cry of animals and the cry of the The pigs That was really sad I sound like children Which is not very pleasant I couldn't do anything I couldn't save him They bought this farm with Trevor's superannuation six years ago Their plan was to earn enough from the farm to see them through retirement Bob loves that Basically all my superannuation that are put into the place of us. I lost everything and Apart from a few little bits and pieces just around that if it wasn't for mites Oh People coming down will have nothing. No the practices There's two cactus is gone All the machinery is basically gone. The sheds are gone Each day is a struggle They own a house near Sydney but need to stay on the farm to look after the animals that survived the fire. Oh Well my day starts by getting around about up at about seven o'clock I go feed the animals first before I feed ourselves They they can't feed themselves I Feed the pigs first, then I feed the dogs and the cats I'll go down. I do the Sheep and my husband does the cattle In winter the temperature can drop below zero They weren't insured the only shelter they have is a caravan loaned by a neighbor He let us have the caravan to use and I am so grateful to him for that My son's up the top there and he's trying to put these tarps on so it doesn't get wet now Otherwise, I just get the food though the chairs will get wet and you don't the slippery floor cuz any people over you've had it a Caravan is a very hard place to be you ain't got much There's not much you can do we go to bed as soon as it's dark We get up as soon as it's light I've got the little cooktop but I also I've been able to make cakes in a web anow I haven't been able to do that before I always burnt the bottom now. I figured out how to do it I'll put a tray underneath as well. And then I put the cake on top of that and they come up really good so the Weber helps With no running water they head into khabar go a few times a week for a shower in the public bathrooms. I Can't do it every day. It's just too far and it's too much on petrol to have a shower. I've been washing Myself with wet ones If I have to go out somewhere quickly, I just give my body I'll wash it off. So it's not the best. I miss I miss a proper shower. I Did dig the old-fashioned? Toilet which It serves its purpose. I can put a tree in it afterwards and close it on in. You know, I have a good treat in So other than that they can do right - yeah, right - how are you gonna pay for the rebuild? Well, that's a debatable question or just downtown with some of the grants that was on the plight and something that we didn't get and I thought wasn't my to be different to you. But you know, unfortunately, yeah, I Decided when I told you we didn't owe a loser, whoa That's weird guys Me myself I've had a lot of cries and I've had a lot of Like I've talked to people Where it's harder for a man? it's harder for him being used like used to being the man who is the breadwinner and Being reduced to feeling like he's nothing is really hard He'll put on a really good front Say oh, yeah, everything's fine, you know normal, manly thing but when your man hoots taken from you where you can't Is stuck and What are you supposed to do and I can't help him that's what hurts me more Fire roared through khabar go on new year's eve Two days later prime minister Scott Morrison came to see the devastation Bangles gallery as a house how sighs we were talking about earlier The Former mayor local dairy farmer, Tony Allen showed the p.m. Around the Relief Center where bushfire victims had set up camp. I Was made aware that the prime minister was coming and I thought well This could be good for us because we needed help we needed help from whoever We could get help from we were we were we were smashed The visit turned into one of the most politically charged moments of the summer To see somebody just come to one of the most devastated areas bring nothing with them at the time as well and At the very first moment I saw him. He was turning his back on a friend of mine who you know was pregnant Has a small child lost everything and so that's when I you know, I snap I Was exhausted I hadn't slept I'd fought fires. I still had ash all to my hair bits of melted plastic So it was just a reaction to immediately, you know what what I was seeing happen in front of me and And I was just this You know sense of outrage That the little people are very much overlooked in in any disaster. It's um Else I was enraged. I didn't just just didn't read the Emotion that was here My intention was to have him come and meet That the great people who had started the little Relief Center we had acabar go and also meet with some of the people Who had lost? so much and Surely they were going to be most but I didn't for one second think it was going to turn into her into a bloody circus basically I Think It was unfortunate something I Regret having been part of but in hindsight. What are you ready to do it you think you're doing the right thing by your community? Now, you know we've moved forward as a community the people involved have been very very helpful in helping us up at the Relief Center and But I think the scars that the scar of that Prime Minister being treated that way is not a good look There are some people who at first were angry at my outburst now See how hard I work and realize that it was never You know, it was never my intention to you know, just stage a personal protest or get on television or anything like that it was Yeah, just a frustration for people's needs not being met or listened to all I can do is You know that a lot of my motivation for working so hard for people still is to show people that it was never my intention to bring bad publicity for kabah go and It was never a preconceived Act of what I did that day Six months on from the Prime Minister's visit the devastation still stretches for hundreds of kilometers around khabar go While billions have been pledged for bushfire recovery a common feeling here Is that the response from big charities government and politicians? Hasn't been good enough You know if it's Scott Morrison come down at Michael McCormick the you know The Prime Minister Deputy Prime Minister cabinet ministers senators all sorts of people come down He also the politicians are different both both political stripes and seen their you know seen the areas seen the damage is down here and the seen it and just haven't responded because I kept saying that it was such a The scale of this is huge and the response to that has got to be huge as well And I just don't think it has been Dave Allen runs the only pub in town It was his dad Tony Allen who showed the p.m. Around the Relief Center Dave saved the hotel from the fire as a tour through the shops nearby. He's still traumatized The first few weeks I didn't get lot of sleep You'd start crying You know all of a sudden you start crying But that, you know you gradually work your way through that and then get and getting back to work was important for me and getting something to do and Not focusing on what happened and focusing on what we can do to you know Move forward and get the place going against that help but the people who didn't have a job to go to or lost their homes Just lost their sense of being so to speak I guess was really really tough He talks to bushfire victims every day and is shocked at the conditions some are still living in Still got a lady who was coming here getting meals he was sleeping in a car She had a caravan, but she couldn't Sleep in the care of him because she had a back complaint so she had to sleep in a car every night you know people still you have to go outside at 2 degrees outside to go to the toilet from in these old caravans and I just don't understand with all the money that was donated through various charities or the Government assistance that five months almost five miles down the track There's people still living rough And you know, we're in winter near when you got people living in tents and caravans in the middle of winter there's going to be more people just Virtually give up because they don't have any hope And this could go on for years. I think because the disaster was so huge that the government bodies and agencies who would have stepped up and have Tried to step up. I have just not been equipped. They were never equipped to deal with such an enormous disaster I also think that grants and that sort of thing The applications are just almost impossible for people who are suffering severe trauma to fill out it's none of those forms are simple and There's a lot of oh, it's just too hard. I'll give up. I just can't do this There's a lot of that happening or has happened so I think that all these months on Finally the agencies and I I'm not just going to say the government agencies But all the agencies Red Cross Salvation Army all those people who normally would help in a disaster. They're catching up now On Jade Corby's farm in one delle north of cabaco. The cleanup is finally getting started State and federal governments are paying contractors to clear people's blocks How you going Good I'm Monica we've talked on the phone. Yep, this is Dax Jade is showing the Assessors through what remains of his home That's the house just here. Yeah, and just up behind. That was the old dairy. Yep It's just a shared these days. Okay, yeah There was nothing left every fence on the place carry yards and tractors implements Silage high in cattle sheds the house A lot of old cars are being flicked in for a lot of years on old forwards They were gone just a quick one start with Do you have asbestos? Oh yeah. Yeah So this that's what will be the asbestos there In this Shire alone there are more than 2,000 burnt buildings to remove including an enormous 32,000 tons of material contaminated with asbestos We're saying about four weeks Given this house the asbestos. It's probably that the latter end of that four-week mark rather than being able to slide it in earlier Yeah, I reckon. Yeah Jade is also helping at his parents place on the next Ridge over his family has been farming in the area for four generations This is mum and dad's house This is where we were brought up mom and dad built this themselves with a builder just the three of them. I Think I might have been about three or four somewhere that yeah There's a five bedroom five bedroom house there was seven of us kids If you always Five of Jade's family also lost their homes in the fire Just over the hill. There is my sister's place my place the next ridge just through there. We all lost our place Or an auntie on the next Ridge over sort of just to saw it here. Another aren't yet behind me Yeah, so there was five of us five of us lost homes out here and then my pop lost his house in town Yeah, so six houses in one family. Yeah, yeah But we're also Lisa He's tagging what he thinks he can salvage The rest will be sold for scrap metal or end up in the tip That car there behind it was thick. Oh, I didn't put a I didn't put any taper in that Caravan routes ghost night This tractor of yours are you done with it? Did you want it going into the scrap or Yeah, you're finished with it right It's goods one step closer Makes feel a bit better But at the same time it's it's also been emotional too when it's when they some tear stuff up and yeah, there's not much left anyway, but It's it's a positive. Yeah look in the future. Yeah looking forward It's an early start for these volunteers who've set up camp at the cabaco sports ground We're mostly backpackers donating their time through the charity blaze aid which helps rural communities rebuild fences and infrastructure after a disaster People just want to help because the devastation in cabaco is huge there's a lot of properties that need help we've got an 513 registered properties here and So there's it's a big job Today a blaze aid crew is helping Warren Sal way on his cattle farm He estimates he's lost two hundred and sixty thousand dollars worth of fences in the fires Insulators off. Yeah the top one Obvious way we can go to the top of the post so just one electric on the top one electric on the top and then there'll be a bob and then three planes and Yeah I was a bit hesitant about getting glaze I had to be honest with you A lot of farmers are probably the same thing, you know are they gonna slow us down? What are they gonna do? well, they're gonna be like and I can tell you it was one of the best things I've ever done. Um Are terrific people like their young people traveling about they can tie off they can run wires. They can put stools in The time they've saved me these kids have been absolutely terrific sort of things You put them all back in the bag and then we've got them If you had I said to me y'all would have two solicitors a schoolteacher and an actor here working with me I would laughter it's expensive But yeah, I can't say enough for them. They are just so good to people Even with this help warrants Elway has years of work ahead of him to rebuild his farm It's not just the fences. He lost two houses five sheds the stockyards and a hundred and fifty cattle We lost an excess of 1.3 million dollars in in infrastructure on the farm The cattle weren't insured the fences weren't insured one house wasn't insured and Three of the five sheds weren't insured so yeah, we we copped it, but People say to you why didn't you have an insurance? You can't afford to insure everything you've got but your premiums are so much you you know, you draw a line somewhere Warren lost a lot more than his property in the fire His brother Robert and nephew Patrick were killed defending their farm They got caught they were in a paddock like this only 30 meters from the house, you know like it shouldn't happen, but they got hit my fireball and you know, I Didn't experience a fireball here. I had plenty of fire, but I didn't have a fireball. I been a rubber farm There was just be way the trees have been tore apart sort of thing Um, yeah, that was yeah pretty hard to deal with But you know, you've just got to move on haven't you like what do you do? Jade Corby was a friend of the men who died I'm so sorry about the loss of Robert and Patrick's our way. What impact has has that had on the community here? I don't want comment. No one In all four people died from the fires around khabar go The tiny village of korma just ten minutes up the road from kabah go was nearly wiped out The fire swept through the Corman village and pretty much came in five directions If you look around the mountain ranges here everything's just scarred it's just sticks Apart from the people that didn't lose their houses eighty percent I would say of our population have lost something whether it's their home. They shared their vehicles their stock Everybody's lost something I think we've lost our innocence as well I think we've lost out our she'll be okay mate because it's not and it won't ever be Ellie and Andrew Newton moved to corner two years ago when they bought the general store So we've become like The hub we've become like the counselors. We've become the huggers up until covert nineteen We've become I'm so sorry Would you like a glass of water or can I help you? We've become the eyes and ears of our community What are some of the struggles that the people that you're seeing coming to your shop everyday is still having because of this bushfire Okay, so we've got mental health issues That's pretty major. We've got people who have lost their sense of purpose Because they maybe have lost their business lost their house or just lost everything Next to the general store is corners bushfire relief center Inside is a wall of post-it notes from locals that appeared in the days after the fires to let others know. They were safe The word recovery to some we know we knew that yet We're still still cleaning up and just repairing the damage that the further initial damage that the fire did So that we can then get on to some stage that leads up to eventually being able to think about recovering from the event Veronica Abbott has been running the center since it started Helping people navigate the bureaucratic maze of grants and loans and find basic supplies Well, I brought some bags of clothes in yesterday from Polly that would given to her that didn't fit that's probably oh, thank you about that She's worried about the community's mental health We had a Suicide of a person who are missing the broader community who is some fire affected So many people have gone through things in different ways. And and for a lot of people the young do The bad time quite possibly hasn't hit yet because we've been going through this this early days of There's so many things that you need to do. And so we Haven't really had and she'll probably more recently time to see and even think about what's actually happened. There has been counselors here during the over the bushfire period and so on but Those people have moved on I think probably after after the dust settles, that's when you do need a bit of Mental health assistance probably they need to probably come back and have a and look All I can suggest to people is if they feel they feel that their They can't handle it they should talk to somebody You've got to talk to people if you don't talk to people in your bottle that up inside Then the worst can happen He took months for the burnt-out remains of the Kabongo main street to be cleared It was one of the most visible scars on the landscape Now people here can begin to move forward Well, it's important because you're not going to have to walk past it every day and be reminded of You know what's happened and that's not to say that people are going to forget Oh, it's not there anymore Oh what fire, you know people will always remember, but it was just this Psychologically, you know psychological visual of the loss Out of the ashes a stronger community is emerging Despite her own struggles. Rani Eagles is volunteering at the cabaco Relief Center two days a week It's my way of giving back to Kabongo and My way of saying thank you for everything that you've been doing for us. Not just me either It's other people in the area and it's nice to be able to meet them as well even a couple that were on our road which we didn't even know we're along that road and They came in and their little girl was having a two-year-old birthday. I shoved a couple extra things in for her you know I go over a couple extra teddy bears and You know made a little smile on her face, hopefully and yeah Over the past six months people here have been quietly rebuilding their lives firmly focused on the future How long do you think it's gonna take for you to get back on your feet It's Yeah a couple of years and I probably should have Everything back to ya some somewhere near it. How are you feeling about that when you think about what you've got ahead of you? I Try not to think about too much. You just sorta. Just keep working and keep going on and just keep busy A lot of people have at the beginning not being forthcoming with asking for help But we find now that they're actually coming through and saying actually I'm not okay And I I do need a bit of help. So and we try to do that in in a way that you know Preserves a person's dignity because you know that's Person's pride and their dignity should be something they should always be able to retain Don't forget about us We're still struggling. It's going to take a very very very long time For the bushfire affected people and countryside and villages and economies to recover if in fact some of them ever do and Yeah, just be with us work with us. Stay with us You You
