The Blacksmiths' Tree

The Blacksmiths' Tree: A Portrait by Debbie Qadri was recently donated to the library by the author. Debbie is an artist who is also interested in community art projects in public spaces. The book is her PhD research at the College of Arts and Education at Victoria University. It follows the story of the Blacksmith's Tree, public art work constructed mainly by many blacksmiths and installed at Strathewen as a memorial following the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009. The book includes the authors own drawings and text in addition to a time line and references. It can also be accessed from her website 

This post was first publlished 7 May, 2019 on Yarra Plenty Regional Library

Poems from Strathewen Bushfire

Source: Matt Dickinson Collection, Yarra Plenty Regional Library

The Black Saturday bushfires of Satruday 7 February 2009 impacted our local area, in particular the City of Whittlesea and Shire of Nillumbik.  In the aftermath, a local photographer took some photographs which were donated to Yarra Plenty Regional Library last year.  They have since been added to our YPRL Local History Flickr account.  Poems from the Strathewen bushfire were posted to blackened trees during these days.

In the Oct 2014 Google Street View image, a number of poems are still visible pinned to this tree.
Source: Matt Dickinson Collection, Yarra Plenty Regional Library

There’s a summer bush requim

So silent it chills
It’s drifting on ashes
Through Strathewen Hills

There’s no song at “Singing Waters”
Just an ashen lament
And trees that stood straight
Are now blackened and bent

Strathewen history
Is clouding the air
With soft powdery ash
And a wail of despair

There are spaces without traces
Of neighbours and friends
We are missing their faces
Coming around the road bends

We’re sooty and smudged
And waiting for rain
As homeward we trudge
We’re nursing our pain

Our life’s black and white
No colour between
Just some sepia tree tops
To colour the scene

We’re drawn back to the place
We want to remain
We’re holding our friends
We’re sharing the strain

• Barbara Joyce

In the Valley of the Ewen
We are happy and free
With Sugarloaf Mountain
You and Me
There’s no place
I’d rather be
Than Strathewen

• Bill Scott

Harder are the tears
Sadder is the pain
Inner is the heartbreak
Loving is our gain
Tomorrow is for memories
Yesterday is all gone
But somewhere in these ashes
We can together write our song

• Anon

It’s not so much what we do in life
But more important, what we became
While we are doing it
Strengthened we will become great
My thoughts are with you all
Love Marion Oakley
People are like stained glass windows
They sparkle when the sun comes out
But when the darkness sets in
There true beauty is revealed
Only if there is light from within
Strathewen is constantly in my thoughts

• Marion Oakley

Towards home I look to see something familiar
Searching every horizon Blackened and burnt
I look again, seeing only the burnt backdrop
Our Mountain, Our Statue
Then some how
I feel protected again
In her blackened arms

• Rosemary Zinni Yung

Strathewen Hall History sought

The Strathewen Public Hall was destroyed in the Black Saturday fires. The Hall Association has commenced the re-building process. The Committee is now appealing for assistance in locating memorabilia and photographs documenting the history of the hall. If you can assist, please email Kathy Brown at miscellany@ozemail.com.au

For information on the Strathewen Hall before the fires see "Nillumbik now and then : Eltham and beyond" by Margureite Marshall.