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Feb 7th, 2009 is known as Black Saturday.
It was the day of the worst bushfires in Australian history.
A day when 173 people lost their lives.
In the small town of Marysville,
a wildfire took the lives of 34 people
and destroyed over 95% of the town’s buildings.
Marysville was one of five towns that completely burned down.
It was the day of the worst bushfires in Australian history.
A day when 173 people lost their lives.
In the small town of Marysville,
a wildfire took the lives of 34 people
and destroyed over 95% of the town’s buildings.
Marysville was one of five towns that completely burned down.
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| Message to Marysville: Beauty from the Ashes quilt |
Six years on, I am standing admiring a beautiful quilt in the Marysville’s Tourist
Information Centre. The quilt has 131 patches donated to the community by people all over Australia to show they care and to encourage them in the long road to recovery.
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| Beauty from the Ashes Quilt |
Black Saturday was a day Victorians will never forget. Our Melbourne day started normally. The kids were back to their first full week at school after the long summer holidays. We’d had an unprecedented hot spell, and because of the predicted extreme heat, school Saturday sport was cancelled. We talked about keeping cool at the cinema, but in the end, it was too hot to venture out.
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| Koala: Beauty from the Ashes quilt |
The temperature in Melbourne, a 90-minute drive from Marysville, peaked at 46.4°C. (115.5 °F.) It was the swirling, blustering 100 km per hour winds that were unusual and dangerous. The garden, despite our best efforts that summer was tinder dry, the lawn was scorched brown and in the winds the already sunburnt plants disintegrated, scattered across the garden like confetti. Imagine what it was like in Marysville a town in a valley surrounded by mountain forests.
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| Butterfly: Beauty from the ashes quilt |
There had been warnings of the bushfire risk all day. We watched horrified as fire after fire was reported, around 400 fires across the state. By the evening television news, it was apparent Victoria was on fire.
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| Blue Wren: beauty from the ashes quilt |
Last year we spot an advert in the Sunday paper for a weekend break in Marysville at the recently opened Vibe Hotel, the deal included a bottle of Yarra Valley sparkling wine and Marysville lolly shop chocolates. It seemed like a perfect way to have a getaway and support the community as it continues to recover from the devastation.
I look forward to sharing more Marysville photos, it really is remarkable seeing the town six years on.
Linking with the following
Blue Monday with a massive thank you to Jeanne at Backyard Neighbor
for continuing Smiling Sally’s Blue Monday Meme
Thanks to Judith our host of Mosaic Monday
1 comment
Hi Wren, I’m the person behind the Marysville Quilt project. If you’re interested in the back story, here it is! https://marysvillequilt.blogspot.com/