Personal Stories

The stories, images and thoughts contained here relate to each artist's own experience of Black Saturday. Please respect that all of us have varying journeys to healing and may express it in a way that it different from our own. If you would like to submit work for display on this site please email youth@bendigo.vic.gov.au. All written work is to be on a word document and images in a jpeg format.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Clandestine - An Ashscape installation

For father and son Neil and Alex Fettling, the Black Saturday disaster offered a unique source of inspiration for their 'Clandestine' exhbition.

ABC Central Victoria has produced an excellent set of images and words that capture the Clandestine exhibition.

___________________________________________________________________________________________ 

HEYWIRE - Regional and Rural youth sharing their stories

The following story is an Excerpt from "My Inspiration for Black Saturday" by Luke Owens as submitted to Heywire

"The Black Saturday bushfires, were a series of bushfires that ignited or were burning across the Australian State of Victoria on and around Saturday 7 February 2009 during extreme bushfire-weather conditions, resulting in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire. 173 people died as a result of the fires and 414 were injured. As many as 400 individual fires were recorded on 7 February. Following the events of the 7th of February 2009, that date has since been referred to as Black Saturday.

In my mind, i remember it like it was yesterday... the dark clouds circling our once blue sky, frantic drivers desperate to escape safely with their families, it was a shocking event for our state of Victoria and on every February 7, all people that were affected will feel a swarm of darkness over them and remember that very day with pain and fear, of all the lives that were lost, homes and habitats brutally destroyed, flames as high as tidal waves closing in on people in between them, petrified and helpess. On every Black Saturday anniversary, we will ask our Lord God the very same question - Why?

I remember it vividly. It was a typical Saturday morning at work (I was working at KFC at the time) in the Bendigo Marketplace and our customers were coming in saying '' have you seen how dark the sky is? it's so full of dust! you'd think we're on Mars''! I thought there must have been some sort of sandstorm happening but i wasn't sure because i couldn't see what was happening outside - i just had the gut feeling that something was wrong, terribly wrong. My shift was 11am until 2pm so i was eager to get outside and look at the sky - I will never forget the sight that i saw when i stepped outside... dark swirling clouds of dust that resembled something cruel and evil, Satan's fire. Mum had rushed to come and get me from work, i got in the car and asked here ''what is happening to this Earth''? her eyes welling with tears, ''the bushfires are destroying our state'' she replied. Marysville and Kings lake have been burnt down and the fire is spreading rapidly. ''Has anyone died''? I asked. ''I'm not sure'' said Mum, nothing has been confirmed yet but I hope it doesn't reach Bendigo, last i heard it was near Maiden Gully. ''That's where Eddie lives!'' i yelled. (Eddie is one of my best mates) We drove home and i stared out of the window up into the dark, dusty sky - wondering what was going through everyone's mind, all the panic and suffering they would be going through, the fight to save their homes, the sacrifices and risks they were will to take to save their loved ones, it was tearing my heart apart." Read more of Luke's story and others on Heywire here