Summary

Interview with Zelma Gartner about her experiences through the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983, conducted in 2011. This is the first time that Zelma has spoken publicly about Ash Wednesday, a decision triggered by watching the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 from her home in suburban Melbourne. After 28 years, her memories are still clear and confronting.

Zelma tells in detail what she and her husband John went through on the night of 16 February, 1983 at the their home, Viewfield, in Mt. Macedon. The fire arrived without warning and they made a narrow escape from their house to take refuge in the swimming pool for three hours. After the fire front had passed, they walked out to the road through a scene of devastation. Zelma goes on to describe both the immediate aftermath and the long-term effects: taking refuge in Macedon; the effects of the fire on their health; relief services; returning to the house site; living on site in a borrowed caravan; combing through the wreckage of the house; the loss of many precious items; deciding to rebuild and the challenges of doing so; and the subsequent decision to sell the rebuilt house and move to another community.

Physical Description

Digital video file.

Significance

The Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983 were one of Australia's greatest natural disasters. Fires swept through Victoria and South Australia. In the space of a single day in Victoria, 47 people were killed and nearly 3000 homes and other buildings destroyed.

This interview, conducted 28 years after the fire, is a rare first-hand and detailed account of what happened to a couple in one of the areas most affected by Ash Wednesday. It helps to convey the trauma of the fire, the enormity of the loss and the difficulties of the recovery process and provides an historical connection to the experiences of people on Black Saturday and in other major bushfires.

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