SOME JOY AFTER BUSHFIRE DEVASTATION IN GIPPSLAND
Ray Stewart
Past President
Rotary Club of Narre Warren, Vic.
Governor Elect, District 9820

The response by Rotarians after the fires that swept through East Gippsland in Victoria’s District 9820 in January, 2003 was both practical and heart-warming. But it moved up a gear when Ian Graham, a member of the Rotary Club of Dingley
Village in adjoining District 9810 and his wife Clare generously donated a log cabin to the affected region.

The only obstacle was that the cabin was in Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula and needed to be dismantled, then transported, literally in pieces, and rebuilt some 400km away.

In the aftermath of the misery caused by the fires, an action group was formed under the guidance of PDG Noel Wheeldon from the Rotary Club of Bairnsdale in District 9820.

Rotarians from Lakes Entrance, Mitchell River, Bairnsdale Sunrise and Orbost, backed by around $500,000 donated by Rotarians from around Australia and a donation of $28,000 from a Rotary Club in Japan set to work helping those in need. But when the log cabin was offered for removal, the Rotarians were presented with an unexpected, yet challenging dilemma. How do we choose who it will go to? And, how do we make it all happen?

Imagine that fierce bushfires have swept through your property. In minutes, you have lost your home and a farmhouse, miles of fencing, 1,000 sheep and cattle, sheds, your hay and all your farm equipment.

You are confronting the stark reality that you are back where you were forty years ago!

‘Ready to move in’ – in the centre are
Lin and Heather Livingstone,
the recipients of the house.

Semi-trailer almost ready to go.

‘Early works’ – left to right:
Clare Graham, PDG James Webb,
PDG Noel Wheeldon, Ian Graham.
The Grahams donated the house for demolition, removal and rebuilding.

That is what Lin and Heather Livingstone faced last year in Wulgulmerang, a dot on the map between the Alpine and Snowy River National Parks in Victoria. Their loss and their despair were so great, that the action group decided that they would be the beneficiaries of the Rotarian goodwill offered by Ian and Clare Graham in donating their house.

The Rotarians took the Livingstones to Flinders to meet the Grahams and to view their new home. We can only imagine their emotions.

The immediate problem though was how to dismantle, transport, then reassemble a log cabin from a coastal township to Wulgulmerang. Rotarian Norm Neilson of N & J Nielson Building Consultants carried out a feasibility study stressing that this project needed all District 9820 clubs to lend a hand. To co-ordinate the project, Noel and Rhonda Wheeldon moved their caravan to the site at Flinders and demolition began in late February with Rotarians, friends, local tradespeople and relatives of the Livingstones hard at work.