Reflections on Black Saturday: Empathy, Community & the Ladies of the Black Belt

Ros Addison is the wife of Quinton Addison, who's also shared a story about the Black Saturday bushfires. And her story is quite remarkable. Sitting there with three German backpacking young ladies who were staying with them at the time, doing all the things that they learnt to do to try and save their house, which they're unsuccessful, and sitting there going to the dam wall, watching the fires literally burn down the house.

And yet after the fires, a lot of them were brought together through the idea of these women getting together and just catching up for coffee. And this became something they did on a regular basis to help heal and talk. And some of the women lost their husbands in the fire. And Roz talks about this and the need for talking, for connecting with others, and how that probably saved her and saved her sanity. And I'm sure that for the other women who were part of this circle of women, they would say the same thing. Roz gives a beautiful account of that journey and how it impacted her and also the girls in the community at large.

Biography:

February 7, 2009 was a life affirming event for me. I sat protected behind our dam wall, with three young female German backpackers, three neighbours and our three family dogs, and watched our early 19th Century iron-bark sheep shed and our house burn to the ground.

My husband Q, a CFA firefighter was on a truck fighting the fire elsewhere. Before he left, he showed the girls how to start and use the fire pump and hoses. Well, we had done that but like so many other petrol driven pumps, it stopped after we had wet down the area in front of the house.

Fortunately Q had drilled our fire plan into my brain and that combined with skills learned in 30 plus years of being an operating theatre nurse, enabled me to take the necessary steps to survive this horrendous event and keep our young visitors safe.

Of the 173 people who died on this day, 14 were from my neighbourhood with 65 homes destroyed.

In the days following the fire I recognised the need for women impacted by the fire, to support each other. Two of them had lost husbands, several of us had had lost homes, with many others significantly impacted. We were in a period of bleakness and blackness!

A chance encounter over a cup of tea, with a friend whose house had been only partly damaged, led to the creation of what was to become a place of security if not serenity. The Ladies of the Black Belt – morning tea group was born. Initially we invited only women who had been directly impacted by the fires. We needed a safe place in which our tears and fears could flow freely. As well as a place in which our stories and information about supporting resources could be shared.

Now fourteen years later, our core group still meets with friends on each Thursday for coffee, tea, hot chocolate and the occasional can of coke! And, of course a good chat, a bit of humour and occasional silences as we remember friends passed.

*****

We hope that you enjoyed this episode of Kintsugi Heroes - Alpine Series.

Please take care: if you have been triggered by listening to this episode we recommend you get in contact with someone who can help keep you safe and give you the support you need. This may be Lifeline, AA, a friend, a counsellor, or some other support group.

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Warmly,

The Kintsugi Heroes team

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Theme Song: "Broken"

by Colin Lillie