bushfires . . . then drought are battles needing volunteers

Why not make Eyre Peninsula South Australia Recovery your club Project?

by Chris G. Stone
Rotary Club of Port Lincoln, S.A.

Black Tuesday, January 11, 2005, was a day of extremes on the Eyre Peninsula. High temperature, low humidity, gale force winds and a spark from an exhaust pipe culminated in devastation.

An area measuring 30km by 28km of farming land and many rural townships were destroyed.

Besides the tragedy of the loss of life and property there remains now a mountain of rebuilding work to be done, both mental and physical.

The fires were devastating for the 450 or so farmers and others, but now they are being additionally and exponentially stressed by nature.

Drought!
There is also a feeling of being forgotten as the local programs for recovery wind down through funding or being over-exposed or simply running out of puff.

There are hundreds of heartbreaking stories of loss and the reality is that recovery will take many years with or without the much-needed rain.

The recovery cannot be achieved without the voluntary help of organisations such as Rotary.

Of the 107,000 head of sheep the area carried, more than 40,000 were lost and many of the survivors were placed on properties far and wide.

But now drought has made it impossible to hold them in the foster areas so they are coming home to hand feeding in paddocks that look like a moonscape.

This is an additional strain on the pocket and the already overstretched workload of farmers as this is labour intensive.
Lambing is an additional burden. If it rains then every spare moment will be on the tractor. Something has to give, if not the farmer’s nerve. (more )

The Australian Army was active in the clean-up, but in early March was withdrawn for assignments elsewhere. An urgent need for help remained.

The night after the radio program the Rotary Club of North Balwyn was told of the Port Lincoln request and 10 members immediately volunteered to help for a week.

After travelling by air to Port Lincoln volunteers were accommodated at Nyroca Scout Camp, 50km north of Port Lincoln.
In the following five days North Balwyn Rotarians dug fence post holes, hung fencing wire and completed some 5km of new perimeter fencing for properties in the Wanilla area.

Working conditions included one day in century heat and a three-hour dust storm.

Work also involved removing fencing from around burnt-out private properties in Wanilla and generally assisting locals with the huge clean-up.

Another job was to paint a portable office installed alongside the local hall to replace the burnt-out post office at Wanilla.

This was a pleasing task as the post office is the local meeting place. Pictures of the event appeared in the local newspaper.
To ensure a true Rotary spirit, the Rotary Club of Port Lincoln moved its regular meeting venue to the Nyroca Scout Camp, and 45 members invited the North Balwyn Rotarians to be guests. Much fellowship ensued.

Members of other Rotary clubs interested in being involved in the recovery should contact the Rotary Club of Port Lincoln direct.(more )

David Cheney.