Phil Headlam and Paul Sayer, with John Behrens from Lindisfarne Rotary Club, returned from Victoria last week.

They went to Traralgon South to help replace fencing lost in the bush fires.

This was the fifteenth team from Tasmania to spend a week replacing some of the 4000 km of fencing that was lost.

The team worked with local volunteers to remove burnt fences (rolling up wire and pulling burnt posts) and drive new posts and string barbed wire.

Between 6 and 10 local volunteers turned up every day.  There were also 2 volunteers from Queensland who had been helping for about 5 weeks and planned to stay on for a while longer.

The team were impressed by the strong community spirit they encountered.  At a weekly community dinner hosted by the cricket club they had a chance to hear people’s stories of protecting their homes and losing things in the fire, as well as the recovery process.

The team also met Rotarians from the the Rotary Club of Edwardstown (South Australia) who delivered a truck full of goods for 10 families. The families were selected by social workers and asked to provide a wishlist of goods that they needed. Goods provided included cutlery, heaters, toys, saucepans, towels, bedding and toasters.

Finally, the team attended the changeover meeting of the Traralgon Rotary Club. After a week of hard work it was nice to meet local Rotarians and find out about their projects and the work they have done since the bush fires.

The volunteer fencing project is being run by Timber Communities Australia in conjunction with Rotary.

Phil, Paul and John’s trip was also supported by Europcar, Roberts Don Mac and Midlands Fruit Market, Bridgewater (about 80 kilos of fruit and veg for the community centre in Traralgon South).

There are more photos of the trip on Flickr.

Paul Sayer, Phil Headlam & John Behrens