Welcome to Stories of Courage.
This is Helen Chung with an offering from my heart.
A Town Called Rona Part 2.
Glad you can join me again my friend as we stand beside the good people in the town called Rona.
Now here's a quick recap.
The town called Rona,
A picture perfect seaside destination.
White sandy beaches that kiss the pristine blue waters.
The home of vibrant Nemo fish emerging from candy like coral reefs.
A town well loved not only by the locals but by many a city dweller.
But one scorched day it met with disaster.
Its beauty and charm were melted away by the angry fiery foe of Mother Earth.
On this dark singed day there was much sorrow when the town called Rona was changed forever.
For a body of people gathered united on a day where their hearts were razed to the ground.
Once the envy of any 5 star parallel universe it now resembled a hazy war zone.
And just like all wars you have your enemies,
Casualties and your unsung heroes and heroines.
And this day in a town called Rona was no different.
For the enemy was unrelenting but so were the warriors,
The warriors of Rona who gave their very heart and soul to community.
And it is here my friend that our story continues.
We leave the shoreline,
I'm taking you inland,
A bit closer to the action.
Here is where the true devastation lies.
Like the impenetrable thick smoke,
The pain of the townspeople is palpable,
Suffocating.
However,
Slicing through that pain is a refreshing elixir.
The town pub.
The heart and soul of the town called Rona,
The town pub is usually the congregation or waterhole where every local is baptised over a schooner of beer.
It now becomes the unofficial shelter hub,
The hallow refuge,
Sacred haven where the local permits themselves to crack their stoic country shell and allow the flood of sobs to be comforted by an equally distraught neighbour who too has seen their share of loss and tragedy in their precious town called Rona.
And for some,
The surreal reality of their generational homes built over decades,
Charcoaled and decimated in just one day.
However,
Between the tears and sobs,
Pico de Mure's smile of gratitude for the pub owner taps out free beer to douse their sadness away if only for a brief moment of reprieve.
You back out of the pub,
You feel as though you're interrupting a reunion of familial lament that only locals have the right to be privy to.
Outside,
You stand amongst the people all with zombie stares.
Mimicking the people down at the shoreline,
They are wearing blankets as if they were heavy winter coats,
But instead of shielding them from the cold,
It protects them from the hot embers that the trees choke out like a bad smoker's cough.
Now peeping out of some of those blankets,
You see a kangaroo,
A couple of koalas and a wombat.
Cute on any other day,
But today you notice that their fur in patches had been burnt off,
Exposing wet,
Glistening blisters.
The wildlife themselves stare blankly,
As if stunned,
They shed no tears.
Perhaps,
Perhaps the fires have wiped them away.
A little girl beside you with tear-stained streaks tugs at her mother's hand and says in a hyperventilated speech,
Is that her mommy?
Her mother looks down with a sad smile and gently nods.
The little munchkin resumes her sobbing,
Only this time,
Uncontrollably.
For just a moment ago she had let out a high screech,
Alerting everyone to a kangaroo that was bounding back into the hungry fire.
For this kangaroo was going back for her baby Joey.
The girl instinctively lunges forward in pursuit of the roo,
Only to be pulled back,
Embraced by her mother,
Like a lost child found.
Now remember that sharp crack you heard that startled you?
You know,
That 200 year old eucalyptus tree that fell?
Well,
When it had died,
It took the baby Joey with it for company.
The mother roo was found guarding her dead baby.
She became the boxing kangaroo,
Prepared to take on anyone who would steal what little she had left of him.
The fire woman gently and lovingly moves in to rescue the brave mother.
You then spot a little boy whimpering quietly as he watches the kangaroo,
The koalas and wombats gently sip water from bottles poured out by their rescuers.
You know,
Perhaps this damaged cluster of wildlife,
Well perhaps they may just be the rescuers.
Because as most rescuers do,
They bring hope,
Courageous resilience,
A spark of joy and the camaraderie of people with a shared sadness.
These little furry Aussie battlers are a gift much needed for these exhausted and devastated witnesses of this dark day in their town called Rona.
Now let's get back down to the water's edge,
Where a day ago seagulls circled ready to swoop up a chip or two from the sunbathe holidaymakers snoozing under their sun hats and shades.
But today these sun lovers trade their sunglasses for swimming goggles,
For the thick smoke stings their eyes and instead of guzzling down chilled beer,
They drink in the burnt air that further scorches their raw throats.
The crowd along the foreshore is an intermingling of locals and tourists,
But for this day,
This one day,
They are all locals,
Brothers and sisters,
All mourning the loss of their beautiful seaside town called Rona.
If anything good came out of that day,
It was a silent but overwhelming bond,
Weaved between strangers,
A bond that birthed a courageous community that took refuge in unity under a blood red sky.
I know what you're thinking,
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
No,
We are not there yet.
Well just like life,
Our journey never ends.
And so,
This story does not end here,
But it does for us.
However,
Fear not my friend for the good people in the town called Rona,
For we all know what the phoenix does beneath a puddle of ash.
At the time of recording this story,
It was coming up to the second anniversary of the Black Summer fires.
I wish I could tell you that there was full recovery of these towns,
But these communities endured much more.
For following the fire season emerged coronavirus,
Floods,
Mice plagues and the loss of livelihood,
And worse,
The feeling of being forgotten.
So this story is to honour the courage and resilience of the people impacted by the Australian Black Summer fires of 2019-2020.
This story is so you are not forgotten.
This is Helen Chen with an offering from my heart.
