PULL OUT QUOTE: “You never expect something like this to happen to you. The chances of this happening to you are so rare, so when it does, it’s hard to come to terms with.”
Memories of riding motorbikes, fishing in the dam and playing hide-and-seek among the trees of Victoria’s Highlands are what remain for a Lilydale family after the Longwood fires.
Shaun Jacob’s parents purchased a property in the Highlands 26 years ago, so he and his siblings could camp, enjoy nature and ride motorbikes. It lovingly became known as The Block.
As Shaun and his siblings had children of their own, the property developed and changed into a bushland sanctuary, where the families would gather and make incredible memories.
Over the course of two and a half decades, cabins were built, boats and caravans were stored and gardens were established, all adding to the true joy of the place.
The fire that raged on Friday 9 January saw all of this wiped away.
Shaun said while a traditional house wasn’t built on the property, it was home to five cabins, an indoor camp kitchen and storage sheds.
And it was home away from home for his parents.
The Montrose-based grandparents, who asked to be named Nan and Pa, spent the majority of their time at their beloved property, returning to the eastern suburbs only when needed for health appointments or family events.
“We knew there was fires everywhere, but thought the block was OK. And then Saturday morning, we got the call from Nan and the neighbour had been down and said, we’ve lost a lot of stuff, but we didn’t know, and she hadn’t come all the way down,” Shaun said.
“It’s a steep driveway down to the main area. So we were optimistic and hoped some stuff would be left and then we waited till Monday, and then drove up on Monday, followed my parents up and just found nothing.
“To go in the driveway and just see that there was almost nothing left. Nothing was saved. And just bizarrely, it just seemed to target anything that was man made, the fire just chased any kind of structure. The best way to describe it is like a war zone. It’s very heartbreaking.”
Shaun’s daughter Charlotte said “not knowing what you’re going into, was a very nervous and sickening feeling”.
“When you’re expecting something to still be standing and it’s not, it’s even worse. It wasn’t easy.
“You never expect something like this to happen to you. The chances of this happening to you are so rare, so when it does, it’s hard to come to terms with.”
Shaun and Charlotte estimate that over the 26 years, the block would have welcomed over one hundred different people, if not more, with so many friends and family using the property.
“Everyone would come and stay. Friends, family, our friends, the kids’ friends, cousins. I reckon it’d be in the couple of hundreds of people who have come and stayed,” Shaun said.
“(My parents) don’t ask for anything. They remove all the rubbish for everyone. They supply the gas bottles for the barbecues and things like that, the water everything, they don’t ask for anything. It’s just ‘come and have a good time’.”
From playing backyard cricket to sitting around a campfire chatting or playing games, Charlotte said growing up at the block was full of adventure and learning new things.
“It’s hard to put into words, the property, because it’s just so many things all at once,” she said.
“It’s endless entertainment. When we’re little, all our cousins, we would go out and play tiggy at nighttime with our torches, or we have little radios up there.
“If we didn’t know what to do, we’d go make something up. We made a cubby house out of bits of wood and nails, Pa gave us hammers, and we just went and made a tree house.”
That was always the intention of purchasing the property, to provide a space where the family could disconnect from the world and enjoy the time together, but also their hobbies.
“Pa’s just built tracks everywhere for kids to ride. And they’ve got a dam up there that they restock with fish,” Shaun said.
“I’ve been going there since I was probably about 23 or something, I’m now 48 and the kids were just brought up there. They’d ride their mini bikes there and step up to the bigger bikes.
“It’s just been a safe place to bring your family and your kids, and you don’t need to think or worry about them. They’ll be safe.”
The quiet moments of days and evenings at the block were spent watching nature’s television, as kangaroos, echidnas, wombats, the occasional koala and deer would fill the property.
This was a much loved past-time for Nan and Pa.
“They called it deer o’clock. They’ve got a spot down in the valley where they drive down quietly and park, and then they walk another couple of 100 metres or so. There’s a rock that they can sit on and they can see into and out of a valley,” Shaun said.
“They can watch the deer come past. They say just before dusk is deer o’clock. They always love and enjoy seeing that.”
While all of the property’s structures were burned, Shaun said one surviving aspect was Nan’s “Covid garden”, a beautiful rock garden she created during the pandemic lockdowns and some of her vegetable garden.
“When we got to the property on Monday after it all, one of the first things she said was, I’ve still got my fruit trees.”
Shaun couldn’t believe this positivity but then again he said, “they’re old school, they’re tough as nails, they’re so resilient”.
With so much accumulated over the years, either second hand or for little cost, Shaun said his parents didn’t have insurance and therefore, the cost of replacing everything would be expensive.
Looking over at Charlotte, Shaun said “this little gem as we were driving home decided she was going to do a GoFundMe page. It’s been amazing”.
Initially hoping they could get $500 to replace some of the tools or buy a chainsaw, this quickly grew beyond expectations.
In just four days, it surpassed $10,000, an “unbelievable” total.
“It’s this rollercoaster of gratefulness but also why do we deserve this?” Shaun said.
Charlotte said, with her grandparents being in their seventies, the world of the internet and social media is somewhat foreign, and they can’t grasp how widespread the help has been.
“I don’t think they knew that this many people support them. So they’re a bit overwhelmed,” she said.
All the money that has been donated to the family will initially be used to clear the property of the debris. The idea is to then rebuild, providing a granny flat for Nan and Pa that is easily accessible as they get older.
“There’s so much to rebuild. So much to clean up. That’s one side of it you don’t even think about. But the cleanup is just unbelievable,” Shaun said.
But the generosity of people willing to help, donate and offer equipment has been overwhelming, and is what is keeping the family going.
“(Fires) can take your property and take all the buildings, the structures, but it can’t take the memories or the views, that’s what we’ll rebuild on.”
The GoFundMe can be found here: gofundme.com/f/please-help-re-build-our-familys-serenity
