In 1904 Dorothea McKellar wrote a poem called "My Country". While the first verse described the fields and orderliness of the English countryside,the home of many of those who had journeyed across the sea to find another life, the rest of the poem beautifully describes her new home, Australia. The second verse goes like this:
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!
This week Australians have watched nature in all it's terror as the state of Victoria burned. Over 29 fires roared up hills and into valleys, across rivers and roads. At the whim of the wind it devoured homes, property, livestock and most tragically of all human life. At one stage the fire travelled 25 km in just four minutes. In some areas, by the time people saw it coming, it was too late to leave.
As I write emergency services are at full force aided by the Australian Army, Red Cross, the Salvation Army and many others. The CFA (Country Fire Authority) which is almost totally volunteer driven has worked in shifts around the clock. Three days after the hottest day on record for Victoria (47.6 C or 117F) fires still threaten country towns and the radio station dedicated to emergencies continues to read out fire warnings. "If you can see smoke, you have time to leave. If you see flames it is too late." Some of the survival stories are amazing - a group of three who crawled into a wombat hole and covered themselves with wet blankets - the fire roared over them but they were safe. The family who hid in a bunker reluctantly built by a husband who thought his wife was overreacting at living in the bush. It saved their lives too. A little boy found burnt but alive in a ditch with totally destroyed homes around him. As I write this, the death toll is 181, but all the homes have not been able to be reached and the thought is that this toll will rise significantly. Some of the fires had been deliberately lit - what does society do with someone who does this? But it is at times like these that community becomes a word with great meaning - Australians have huge hearts, and almost every district, club, sports team, church and school along with corporations are opening their pockets to provide relief to the thousands of now homeless people. If you are reading this, please pray for the people who are fighting for life in the burns units of our city hospitals, who grieve the loss of loved ones, for others who desperately wait in emergency centres hoping that their missing relative/neighbout/friend will show up alive, for those who sit dazed and bewildered with reality not yet set in, for those who literally only have the clothes on their back. Pray - give - and pray again. For up to date fire news try
www.abc.net.au/news/events/bushfires
