Sticking out from warped sections of corrugated iron and powdery shards of plasterboard is the burnt frame of what was once a child’s bed.
Bree Brunswick says this is what remains of her dream home.
“It wasn’t very big but we were downsizing from when we were in town. It was just cute ... like Little House on the Prairie, we just loved it,” she tells SBS News.
She and partner Jim Keat built their weatherboard cottage in the rural hamlet of Clifton Creek, 20 minutes drive north of the main township of Bairnsdale in East Gippsland.
They lived off the grid using solar power and tank water with their idyllic hideaway on an acreage overlooking the valley next door to the local primary school
Bree and Jim's house in Clifton Creek before the fire. Source: Supplied by Danyal Syed
But on the night of 30 December 2019, it would all be snatched away as fires tore through the hamlet.
Jim stayed to defend the house with his brother and friend, but by nightfall he realised it couldn’t be saved.
The house after fire tore through the region. Source: SBS
“Just the ember attack, it all started to catch on fire," he says.
"I was keeping an eye on the road to make sure we could get out, but the last time I went up it was on fire and the school was almost on fire.
"I raced back down and said to the boys 'we’re getting out of here'.”
Bree, Jim, 15-year old Ashley, 10-year old Jake and three-year-old Joey lost everything, just five days after Christmas.
Bree Brunswick and Jim Keat say they're lucky to be alive. Source: SBS
“All their Christmas presents, everything they were excited about was taken away overnight and they struggled.”
For Jake, the loss was significant as the fires not only took his home but also the keepsakes he had from his father, who died when he was seven months old.
“I had my dad’s old motorbike gear and that’s gone, some pictures of my dad and they’re gone, heaps of stuff, yeah,” he says.
Jim says for him, he will find himself going to get something before realising it’s gone.
Debris at the house site. Source: SBS
“Every day you just realise there was something else in there, that now you haven’t got, it’s kind of bizarre,” he says.
Much-loved school destroyed
The fire that claimed the family's home also took the school Jake attended, Clifton Creek Primary.
Bree says it hit her son hard.
“For a little boy, you’ve got your family and you’ve got your school, and that’s your world. He’d lost it all in an instant. So he struggled the most, he loved being up there. He was devastated.”
Clifton Creek Primary was more than 100 years old and branded itself 'The little school that makes a big difference'.
Clifton Creek Primary a day after the fire. Source: SBS
With only 10 full-time students, principal Sue Paul says it provided a unique learning experience.
Ms Paul has only just returned to the school site to see the damage and says it is all too familiar for her.
“I couldn’t come back, it was too emotional. We lost a family member and a family home in the [2009] Black Saturday bushfires, so for me, seeing all of this is quite devastating and brings back a lot of that.”
Just three days after the school was destroyed, the Victorian government announced it would be rebuilt.
Portables on site at Clifton Creek. Source: SBS
Member for Gippsland Darren Chester said while the school only accommodates a small number of students, it is an important part of the rural township.
“It’s the hub of that little community, Clifton Creek is only a small community but they want that school rebuilt so they can get that sense of community back as soon as they can.”
In a matter of weeks, the site has been almost cleared and portable classrooms have been installed with only the final fittings to be finished.
Students won’t be allowed to return until the landscaping is complete, and the last remnants of burnt materials have been taken away for the sake of their mental wellbeing.
For the first term of 2020, students are being educated at the nearby Nicholson Primary School.
The state government has installed a portable for the temporary students so they can begin the new term together.
Nicholson welcomes its new temporary students. Source: SBS
'We can rebuild'
Ms Paul says calling the roll on the first day back was a significant moment for everyone who survived the fires.
“To say 'all present and accounted for' is the best we could hope for. In any bushfire, if at the end of it everyone made it through, that’s everything. We can rebuild, we can buy new things, but you can never get a person back.”
Nicholson has six times the student population of Clifton Creek. Its principal Sue Clague says her pupils have been very welcoming to the new arrivals.
Principal Sue Paul with Clifton Creek students. Source: SBS
“They’ve accepted them with open arms, they’ve shown a huge amount of empathy for the first few days, and now it’s just business as usual.”
The Clifton Creek class has been doing writing exercises that help address feelings of loss after the fires.
The children’s bravery and resilience have become world-famous. They’ve received letters of support and donations from countries including the US, the UK and Greenland.
“We’re so lucky for all the support we’ve been getting and stuff, and we’re sending letters back to them too,” Jake says.
The new portables on the Clifton Creek Primary site will be ready for class next term, and while Jake says he is enjoying his time at the bigger Nicholson school, he can’t wait to get back.
Students display letters of support they have received from around the world. Source: SBS
“It’s good here but it’s not the same. Like just the culture, there’s heaps of culture [at Clifton Creek], it goes like 100 years back.”
With no house insurance, Bree and Jim know they face a long road ahead, but they’re just grateful to be walking it together.
“Others have lost their lives, we were lucky, I think. We’re the lucky ones, we’re still here, that’s the most important thing.”
