Local pair 'honouring the survivors' as forest regenerates after bushfires at Kiah - ABC News

Mick Harewood and Sue Norman take a morning walk together on their property most mornings. But for a while, it was too depressing.

"I couldn't walk through the forest without seeing the flames," Ms Norman said.

"You'd look up at the black on the tree trunks, and you imagined what it was like."

Two summers ago, in the first few days of 2020, bushfires that had raged out of control for weeks in Victoria's East Gippsland region jumped the New South Wales border on a path toward Mr Harewood and Ms Norman's property at Kiah.

Ms Norman evacuated, and Mr Harewood stayed to defend the house, retreating to their fire bunker as the front arrived on the night of January 4.

The house was saved, but their entire 25-acre property was scorched. The old-growth trees continued to smoulder for the best part of a week. 

Mick Harewood and Sue Norman's entire 25-hectare property was burnt on January 4, 2020.(Supplied: Sue Norman)

Almost two years later, life has returned to the blackened forest.

The three-year drought that led up to the fires has been followed by two years of good rainfall, and Mr Harewood and Ms Norman's property is erupting with wildflowers and saplings.

Two years of good rainfall have brought an explosion of colourful wildflowers to the property.(Supplied: Sue Norman)

"The land is still telling its story of what happened on that night," Ms Norman said.

"Even the regrowth is telling us what that trauma was like."

Ms Norman points out the Kennedia prostrata, known as Running postman, admiring the vivid red it brings to the forest and its distinctive anti-clockwise twist as it climbs the growing saplings.

"It started off from one point, and it spread over all the burnt ground," Ms Norman said.

"And as the regrowth came up, it started climbing. It's a legume, so it's repairing the soil."

Kennedia prostrata, known as Running postman, helps to repair soil after bushfire.(Supplied: Sue Norman)

The new growth is a solace, but also a concern. With so few surviving animals to browse the bush, the thick vegetation will bring the risk of even more severe fires when the next big dry comes.

And towering over the sea of green at eye level is the enduring tragedy of the fires — the dead canopy of the old-growth trees, an important refuge for vulnerable arboreal mammals.

Many are regrowing but will remain stunted as the dead tops rot away.

Despite their recovery after the bushfire, most of the old-growth trees will not survive.(ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)

"I feel like my life has to some degree failed," Mr Harewood said.

"I wanted to move to the bush and get to know it and look after it. And I haven't been able to protect it."

Gone too are many of the birds and animals that Mr Harewood and Ms Norman knew well. Some, like Beryl the wallaby, appeared to have survived the fire but later died from burns, smoke inhalation and injury.

Some animals survived immediately after the fire but died later from burns and injuries.(ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)

"The sadness and loss; it's a physical feeling," Ms Norman said.

"It grabs at my heart. And it was over such a vast area, so many people experienced it."

For her, part of healing from the trauma has been to plan for a future where she doesn't live on the property. But she still plans to maintain a close connection to the land at Kiah and witness the changes nature brings.

"The reality is hard, but we've got to honour the survivors of the fire," Ms Norman said.

"The will to live is very impressive."

Kennedia prostrata, or Running postman, is adding colour to the burnt forest.(Supplied: Sue Norman)

Adblock test (Why?)

Local pair 'honouring the survivors' as forest regenerates after bushfires at Kiah - ABC News
Read More