HOW victims are rebuilding their lives a year after the horrific Black Saturday fires.

  • Mark and Jan Peart
    Lost their gardening business and possessions
    • “We’ve started building our house. When you see the frames going up on the house you see the wood for the trees. There’s not a hell of a lot of work around. But there’s more optimism. I’m still recovering from a broken back, but Jan is helping me.” – Mark
  • Astrid Harris
    Family lost their home
    • “After the fires I was  disconnected from everyone. It was difficult after the fires to be at school so I tried home schooling. It’s got a lot easier over the last couple of months. My grandmother moved up from Melbourne and bought a house in Marysville to help my brother and I through our schooling. I’m going back to Alexandra High School to repeat Year 11.”
  • Di James
    Lost everything - house, car, business
    • “I’ve been trying to focus on building plans, which is a challenge at my age and not something I’ve ever done before. I’ve spent a lot of time cleaning up my house block and replanting the garden. I think it took quite a long time for people to understand and accept what had happened to them. Grief is not just about people, but a whole lot of things.”
  • Chris Muir
    Restaurateur, lost business and house
    • “We’re getting the plans done for the house. We decided we wanted to get the house built to give us some stability before we made any decision on re-establishing the business. I’m teaching hospitality at Swinburne and Barbara is working at the golf club. We’re debt free. The last thing you want to do is go into debt (re-establishing the business) with an uncertain future.”
  • Bernie and  Joyce Culhane
    Former residents of the Marysville retirement village destroyed by the fire
    • “The (village) units are being built, but there’s only three or four of us who are coming back to live here. I feel there’s more optimism now, but a lot of people are not coming back. We play golf and bowls with friends that are here.” – Joyce
  • Chris Hobbs
    Cleaner, who lost home  and employment
    • “Today (last Friday) is the first day of works on my block to rebuild the house. I’m using vinyl weatherboards on a steel frame, as there’s a house with these boards that survived the fire. Getting to this point has been hard. It’s been difficult particularly for the kids.”