6 years ago today, my whole life changed. On 7th February 2009, my dad lost his house and the love of his life to the Black Saturday bushfires. The years have gotten a little harsher leading up to this day. It was a scorching hot day and I was having some drinks in the city with friends, when I received a phone call saying that bushfires were running rampant around Victorias regional towns and they may strike King Lake (where my dad lived). At the time of the phone call, it didn’t seem like a big risk, as many areas were potential threats. I decided to leave anyways and start making my way to my sisters house (as all roads to King Lake were closed due to fire warnings). Dad had been in contact with us and he said that he and Mark would leave if the warnings rose to emergency status.
By the time I had reached my sisters, the fire was a serious threat to King Lake, we tried to contact my dad, but the phones were completely out of order. I was listening to the ABC emergency radio for quite a few hours and throughout the afternoon they advised that King Lake had been struck by a really vicious bushfire. I think I called the Red Cross about 30 times leading into the night, they were trying to be as helpful as possible, but the whole situation was so chaotic. I stayed up all night listening to the ABC emergency radio and the only news reported was that the King Lake death toll was rising… To be honest, I thought that one of the statistics was going to be my Dad, but I wasn’t about to give up hope completely.
I stayed up all night bearing the brunt of the emotional roller coaster. I received a call from the Red Cross at 7:30am… they said that my dad was alive and he had been taken to a hospital near by. I woke everyone up and we drove straight to the hospital frantically. When we arrived, dad was in shock… all he could say through watery eyes, was ‘Mark is gone, I know that he is dead’, even though it had not been officially confirmed, the love of my Dad’s life was gone. Out of respect to Marks family, I will not divulge any other details regarding his death, but it was a tragedy that could not have been prevented.
Along with the love of his life, Dad lost many of his friends to the fire and he described the experience as walking through the gates of hell. He vows to never return to King Lake.
Black Saturday has been documented as one of the worst natural disasters in Australian history. Many people lost their lives, possessions, pets and loved ones on 7th February 2009, Spare a thought for them today.
This is the first film I ever pieced together, I was actually the first time I recorded anything on my first camera.
I’m going to try to not stay in bed for the rest of the day.