BLACK SATURDAY AND A REFLECTION ON OUR RURAL
RESPONSE EFFORTS
● John Burke (475)
● Darren & Kerry Straub ( 1319)
● Dawn Viney (692)
To mark the winding down of our Rural Response Group activities associated with the 2009
bushfires, on 4th October a group of club members met for lunch at the lovely relaxing
Upper Yarra Reservoir Park 24 km east of Warburton.
A few of us arrived on the Friday evening and camped overnight. We enjoyed a pleasant
evening beside our camp fire. On the Saturday morning, other members arrived and by the
scheduled start time of 11 am, most had arrived and joined us for a picnic lunch at our
campfire.
Among the apologies were Robyn Burke and Carol & Ron Reed. They were involved with the
Club’s stand at Melbourne Leisurefest. Ron had managed the RRG caravan towing project
on behalf of FWDV. In addition Carol & Ron had delivered more caravans than any other
member.
Below are some comments on the valuable RRG contributions made by some of the
members who attended the Wind-Down.
● Ian Salmon led and participated in four RRG trips into the Callignee fire area
● Laurie Finlay initially managed our RRG activities in the Churchill fire area, and led
one trip before illness caused him to hand over the management to Brian McCarthy.
● Brian McCarthy attended six trips into the Callignee area with Liz attending some
trips.
● Norma Norris managed the assistance given by the Pajero members to the Salvos
over a period of weeks. The services involved sorting donated goods at warehouses.
Norma & Mike also attended working bees in the Murrindindi and Churchill sectors.
● Hilary Salmon & Wendy Hammerton spent days assisting the Salvos at the
warehouses.
● The Straub family made a large contribution to the fencing working bees. Darren
attended seven working bees, used his professional fencing skills, brought his own
fencing equipment, and frequently acted as our fencing foreman.
● As they did in 2007, both Danny Hall & Mick Bergin attended several working bees
including assisting the Gippsland 4WD Club in the Labertouche fire area.
● Jim Merrett, who lives at Traralgon, was a frequent participant at our Callignee
working bees. In addition, he also spent a lot more time assisting bushfire victims in
the Churchill fire area.
● Brian McLaughlin managed the Club’s RRG activities in the Murrindindi bushfire
sector. He and Alison attended five working bees in the Murrindindi and Churchill
sectors.
● John Burke led an RRG trip in the Callignee area. In addition, he and Robyn
participated in five other working bees, and participated in the FWDV caravan
towing project.
● As she has done over the years, Anne Dalton again attended working bees.
Newbies Trip Report.docx
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