Alpine Bushfires
Geoff Dinning, Les Harrison & Lance Symons · 54 min
When the Black Summer fires tore through Victoria's Alpine region, the quiet leaders of a Rotary committee, a Lions Club, and a bowling club became the backbone of a recovery that is still unfolding three years on.
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When the Black Summer fires tore through Victoria's Alpine region in late 2019 and early 2020, three quiet leaders stepped forward to rebuild what the flames had destroyed. Geoff Dinning, a Rotarian from Wangaratta, saw the fires from across the region and realized his community needed to act. Les Harrison, who grew up in Kajua when his father was the railway station master, watched his childhood town burn. Lance Symons had just become president of the Myrtleford Bowling Club five months before the fires struck. None of them knew what the next three years would demand.
Geoff's Rotary committee formed within weeks, starting with books for burned-out schools and growing into something far larger: dairy pellets for farmers' cows, hundreds of semi-trailers of hay, caravans for people who had lost their homes, air purifiers for hospitals thick with smoke. Working closely with Gateway Health, who visited affected areas daily, they distributed over 40 compassionate grants of 2,500 dollars each. They learned practical lessons the hard way, discovering that hay stacked in the open needed tarps after unexpected rain. Les organized a raffle through his Lions Club that raised over 8,000 dollars for the region, and watched as Blazeaid and volunteers from the Sikh Community arrived to repair fences and gates. Lance turned the Bowling Club into a gathering place by contacting every member to check their mental health, inviting them back to play, and growing the Barefoot Bowls program so people could participate without formal membership.
Three years on, the work continues. Some people in remote areas still cannot be reached by phone. Some homes remain unbuilt. Some people, as Les knows from his years as a school principal, may never fully heal from losing irreplaceable photographs and objects tied to their memories. But across the Alpine region, three men and their communities are still showing up, still connecting, still rebuilding together.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief & loss, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au • GriefLine: 1300 845 745 · griefline.org.au
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